Can Australia's Idea for Day/Night Tests Be Good for Cricket?

Yesterday it was announced that Lord’s had taken steps towards arranging for floodlit tests from 2010. This is in response to a discussion which has been going on over the past year as to whether holding day/night tests would be viable.

It was first put forward forcefully by Cricket Australia, whose reasoning is that test cricket is losing its crowds, and that one of the best ways to win back its popularity is to give it a slot in primetime.

Not only could this allow people to finish work, dash off to the ground and still see two full sessions, but it will also, or so Cricket Australia claim, quadruple the viewing figures for test cricket.

In several ways, these arguments do seem sound. The almost incredible rise of twenty 20 cricket means that although many purist fans of the highest form of the game still abound, the younger generation are being attracted steadily more to the shorter form.

Given that the number of day/night one day internationals is rising all the time, why shouldn’t there be day/night tests as well?

In addition, bad light, one of the more irritating causes of breaks in play, would no longer be an issue.

There are however, several problems.

The first is that a suitable ball needs to be found. The red ball can’t be used under lights due to lack of visibility, and the white ball, which is used in one day internationals, can’t be used along with the white test clothing, and gets scuffed and brown after 40 overs, half the number required for tests.

In the 1990s Australia trialled yellow and orange balls for Sheffield shield matches under lights, but batsmen complained both were hard to see.

Pink balls are currently being tested in England, with so far successful results, though one problem is that the seam is less pronounced.

It seems that the only solution may come when a white ball is developed that can last 80 overs, but even then this would necessitate moving to coloured clothing for tests, something that many purists would find horrifying.

However, even providing a suitable ball can be found, there remains the fact that the idea would simply never work in several countries.

On the subcontinent, the huge amount of dew would make spinners effectively redundant after 7 pm.

In South Africa, the ball behaves completely differently under lights,

And in England it may be simply cold for spectators after sunset.

There are then, several major issues that need to be addressed before such a scheme can even be considered, and in the eyes of many fans, the sacrifices need to allow for day/night tests may be too great.