Cricket Australia is well on course of introducing a revolutionary and
untouched idea of day and night Tests.
White lights and coloured clothings have illuminated one-day cricket and the most
recent Twenty20 format, but the traditional five-day game with a history
of 130-years have been spared from modernisation.
"We are tossing it around and working out the fundamentals,"
Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said.
"In a realistic sense, we don't see any reason why we can't be at least
trialling some day-night Test cricket matches - not necessarily all of them
- before the end of the decade. It could happen sooner, I don't know. We need
to explore that and go through a consultative process." Sutherland was
quoted in 'The Australian'.
The move will horrify many of the game's conservative followers
who will have their daggers drawn at such an idea, but administrators hope it
will tap into the growing audiences attracted to the one-day and Twenty20 matches.
Within three years, Australia is preparing to trial day-night five day games.
Officials are examining the possibility of scheduling games from 2pm-9pm or
3pm-10pm, saying the move will allow more people to watch the cricket at the
grounds and on television, according to the report.
While ticket sales for Test matches have been steadily dwindling
around the world, one-day and Twenty20 still enjoy enormous support. The maiden
Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa have been a huge hit and surpassed
expectations.
|
