South Africa are reportedly refusing to play a day-night Test in Adelaide next Australian summer.
Is it just a cunning stance to pry cash loose from the paws of Cricket Australia, or are the Proteas actually blind to the need to reinvigorate the Test format?
Of the powerhouse Test nations, no team needs to embrace such innovations more than South Africa.
While interest in Test cricket slowly has dwindled across the world, Australia still pulls in sizeable crowds for home series, Tests remain the premier game in England, and the longest format continues to be a big money spinner in India through TV rights.
In South Africa, the Proteas’ home Tests are attended by anywhere between six and eight spectators. The number of empty seats at South Africa’s grounds is a horribly disappointing sight for any Test cricket fan.
If South Africa are serious about safeguarding cricket’s oldest and most revered format then they cannot afford to turn up their noses at changes like day-night Tests.
This is particularly so now that their Test side has finally ended a long golden era during which they were a consistently outstanding team. If they couldn’t pull crowds with an all-conquering, star-laced line-up, what hope do they have now that the side has receded into mediocrity?
Drastic action is needed to rejuvenate Test cricket in South Africa. The most obvious option is embracing day-night matches, with their family-friendly hours of play, TV-friendly spectacle, and bowler-friendly conditions in an age of boring runfests.
Yet we keep hearing reports that Cricket South Africa do not agree with Cricket Australia’s reported plans to host a pink-ball Test between the nations in Adelaide this November. Two weeks ago Fairfax media reported that Cricket Australia were planning two day-night Tests next summer – the Adelaide match and a fixture against Pakistan at the Gabba.
The very next day, the South African media reported that CSA had not agreed to the pink ball Test and quoted the chief executive of the South Africa Cricketers’ Associations as saying the Proteas were “highly unlikely” to accept playing under lights at Adelaide.
Yesterday that same chief executive, Tony Irish, told media in South Africa that the Proteas players opposed the day-night Test in Adelaide.
“The main reason is we feel disadvantaged. Not one of our players who will compete in that Test has played Test match cricket, or any cricket, with a pink ball,” Mr Irish said. “The reluctance to play is a sign of how much importance the South African players place on the series against Australia.”
This argument is flimsy. Cricket Australia reportedly have offered South Africa a pink-ball warm-up match and, with the Adelaide Test still more than seven months away, CSA would have ample time to schedule other day-night practice for their players.
It is not as if the Australian players are seasoned pros with the pink ball. While Cricket Australia have scheduled a couple of rounds of day-night Sheffield Shield matches over the past three summers, most of the current Australian team had either little or no involvement in those fixtures.
Their day-night experience is minuscule, so it is folly to suggest that they would have a significant advantage under lights against the Proteas.
Of course, South Africa’s reported refusal to play the day-night fixture may well just be a bargaining tool.
New Zealand were not overly keen on playing under lights in the first-ever day-night Test last year, but were swayed by a $1 million payment from Cricket Australia.
Obviously the Australians won’t want to have to keep forking out such a hefty sum to coax teams into playing under lights. It may well be that CSA is holding out to try to get a similarly juicy lump sum.
Let’s hope that is real reason, as it would be a shame were the day-night fixture to be cancelled. As I argued recently, day-night Tests have the potential to add much-needed intrigue to Test cricket because of the better balance they look set to foster between bat and ball.
So Proteas, if you’re acting hard to get in order to raid CA’s coffers, fair play to you. But if you’re genuinely against day-night Tests, you are holding back the format in your country.
Bakkies
Guest
Which Sky are probably having a say in. The problem with Ashes Tests in Australia for UK viewers is that the play is during sleeping hours. It's a massive ask for viewers to pull all nighters squeezed over a month.
Bakkies
Guest
The Durban test was poorly attended and even Cook mentioned it to the Barmy Army in his post match interview
BrainTrust
Guest
Being the first pimp off the starting line is not leading the cricket world. Its dragging the whole of Test cricket into becoming a joke, though I suppose after last years farce with CA paying the best of the West Indies to play in the Big Bash during the test series its all ready a joke. Playing test cricket at night is something that would be handy and convenient for spectators, if you have good lighting as well, but really it would only deeply appeal to the money makers in CA and their legion of sycophants in the media. If the pink ball is a safety issue then play test cricket in non whites would be preferrable, it seems rather silly to keep white clothing which has no effect on the game. You could always put sponsorship on the back of test cricket jumpers as well to make extra money, because the back is not shown to the batsman.
BrainsTrust
Guest
It seems well beyond a coincidence that there are a whole set of pink ball articles at this junction just before this happened. No doubt the news has filtered through on the grapevine. If India do something then the rest of the cricketing world will be forced to do it. It says India are just as willing as Australia to do anything for an extra buck. DRS doesn't provide an additional income so they don't want that. The other can of worms this opens is what happens if money from Indian broadcasters starts to control when international matches are played. See it makes sense to play three sessions at night in New Zealand to get bigger Tv money for an Indian tour. Then all we need is a pack of this new style of journos trying to write articles why everyone is better off playing at midnight.
Chris
Guest
No we realise they didnt pick a random ball, they spent ages picking a ball that reacts differently than any other ball and is hard to see and therefore dangerous. I wish they had picked a random ball up at kmart.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Looks like I was right on that count: http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/1001381.html
davros
Guest
well kg apparently they cant see the ball
Charging Rhino
Roar Guru
Some Aussies showing their true colours on here.... They always think they're right!! Lol
Peter
Roar Rookie
I think we're ranting a bit along nationalistic lines. Looking at other forums suggests that. Australia is also seen as part of the bad big 3 along with India and England, a problem of our own making. Nevertheless, I'd still like to see SA play a pink ball test.
KG
Guest
Davros, yeah that's true. I mean what is the rush here. Its not like test cricket is dieng tomorrow . Why isn't this format tested in every countries domestic league untill the point where the majority of the players are happy. I'm sure there's a lot of unknown variable with day/night crixcket but why test those unknown variable on international cricket? Even the ausie players arnt too happy about it on some reports iv read
Paul D
Roar Guru
I'm sure if SA insisted on two warm up games against quality opposition as a condition, CA would make it happen. I’m certainly not ranting along nationalistic lines, apart from my jibe about South Africa not playing night cricket because their electricity network sucks. My rant is at a small vested interest in the form of some of the test players presumably being overly precious about their averages, trying to prevent something from going ahead that the vast majority of fans & administrators want. I follow politics and after seeing how much small noisy minorities can jam up the country and stop needed reforms it’s more than a little frustrating to see the same short-term pigheadedness in test cricket.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
You've done an amazing job beating a defenceless strawman to death there Jacko, well done.
The Bush
Roar Guru
It's funny cause you think you have a great point, but you don't. If another country wants to invest millions in constructing a new ball, trialling it at FC level over several years and put forward a business plan about how it will grow the game, I'm sure CA would listen. Honestly people are making it sound like CA have just plucked a random ball off the counter at K-Mart and expect the players to play on the local council park.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
India will play a day/night test when they next tour here. There'll be day/night tests during the next Ashes in Australia. It will happen. I wouldn't be surprised if India are the next country to start playing Day/Night tests actually. This isn't something that is going to be uniquely Australian, it's going to become a regular thing across the world, and is a particularly good thing for those nations that struggle even more to get fans through the gates for test cricket.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
The first one was against NZ because that's who was touring when they were ready to do it. They'll definitely have day/night tests the next time England and India tour here. We'll probably all tests other than Sydney, Melbourne and Perth being played Day/Night. Perth may still do it. With the Perth test the good thing has always been people coming home from work and getting to see the last session in prime time. A day/night test will just mean seeing the second session in prime time and if you want to stay up later to watch the last session you can. Unlike an ODI or T20, it's not a case of missing the end of the match if you don't want to stay up late. I can't see Sydney and Melbourne getting Day/Night tests. They are in prime holiday time and also at the same time as the BBL, so at the moment you get test match during the day and BBL in the evening. If they went Day/Night they'd need to have a BBL break while the tests are on. We'll only see day/night tests in Sydney or Melbourne if we have extra home tests in the year that mean they get a second test at those venues. But with Canberra now coming online as another option for a test venue, that's even less likely to happen than it was before.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
It's simple economics. CA wants to play more home games against teams that will pull a crowd. Can't blame them for that, and can't really say it's just all about money, it's also about the fans. If they don't pull a crowd and therefore make less money, that's because less fans have actually wanted to go see those matches. If they could sell out matches against Bangladesh then they'd probably play more of them.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
You know what, if it's a bit harder for batsmen to pick up the seam position, thus giving bowlers a bit of an advantage, what's the issue, batsmen have had so many advantages go their way in recent times, they whinge when there's one little thing that's in the bowlers favour instead of theirs. No reason we need to "fix" that. Just let the bowlers have a bit more of a chance to deceive the batsmen by making it harder to pick variations!
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Hey, if NZ managed to develop a yellow ball that was good then they could consider using it. Test cricket times change a lot. I doubt many places would find 7am was suitable for anything, let alone 5am, but if it was then there wouldn't be an issue with it. Around the world tests have start of play anywhere from 9am to 11:30am that I've seen to suit light and time of year and dew conditions and things like that. You are making stupid arguments. Bat width and pitch length are standards defined in the laws of cricket that can potentially get changed, but they'd be changed across the board. When it comes to the ball the laws define the side and weight and stitching pattern, but actually not colour. Ball colour is not a fundamental part of cricket. If they changed the size or weight or went for 10 stitches on the seam or decided to make the ball more of an egg shape or make it out of rubber instead of leather, then that would go outside the definitions of a legitimate cricket ball, but changing the colour doesn't.
Gav
Guest
Did anyone hear the report that it was the Aussies that spoke to the SA players and told them not to agree cause the visibility, particularly around dusk, was terrible?
The Bush
Roar Guru
True, though the future tours program or what ever they call it now, have them coming back in three years. Pakistan is also a little unique in the fact that you can't tour Pakistan proper. That's not to mention the last time they were here they didn't exactly build good will with that Sydney Test and then the things that were revealed after that.