Day-Night Tests Are Great, but Cricket Must Not Ignore Its Big Issues

Test cricket history was made on Friday with the first-ever day-night Test taking place, exactly 36 years after the first day-night one-day international.

Encouragingly, the crowds came out in their droves to witness the new dawn and were treated to 12 wickets as Australia and New Zealand became the first international teams to play a day-night Test.

It’s been a long time coming, and it certainly hasn’t been easy. Since the concept was first suggested, it has been met with mixed views. Some traditionalists view it as a blight on the game, while supporters of the evolution simply view it as the next natural step in cricket’s progress.

Whichever side you sit on, it was hard not to at least be intrigued about what was unfolding in Adelaide.

As the light began to fade and the floodlights took over, supporters of the concept will have been wondering why this had not been tried sooner. It makes so much logistical sense.

Those who cannot attend cricket because they have to work during the day, can now slip in after work and catch at least one session of play. Even those who cannot watch on television during the day can catch a few sessions when they get in. And for those scattered all around the world, the time difference suddenly seems a little less brutal.

So far, all the major concerns around the pink ball have been unfounded, too.

The ball seems to have held up well and even managed to generate some good swing for the bowlers. Umpires seem to see the ball without much trouble, and the twilight period of play passed without too much concern.

All in all, the whole concept didn’t seem so outlandish, but that is perhaps because we’ve been talking about it happening for so long.

While day one was a great success—and the rest of the Test will almost certainly be, too—cricket needs to be careful that it does not use this jazzed-up version of Test cricket to ignore bigger problems still plaguing it.

The large numbers who came to watch this Test might simply have done so because it is still a novelty. Once that wears off, cricket risks losing some of its audience again because going to watch cricket isn’t exactly easy. For families, it’s expensive when tickets and refreshments are considered. For others, real life still takes prevalence and watching on TV is just far more convenient than going to the ground.

The disparity in competition between “big” and “small” teams should also not be ignored. The golf in class between some of cricket’s elite teams is often so big that fans simply do not bother because they know what the result is going to be.

That the same teams play each other over and over again with no clear pathway to promotion for association sides is also troubling.

All of these things are issues that the evolution of Test cricket into a day-night affair will not solve—and it is important to not lose sight of the bigger picture.