Day-Night Test Match: An idea worth exploring

Day-Night Test Match: An idea worth exploring

Australia and New Zealand cricket officials have said their national teams will likely to meet in the world's first day-night Test match in November next year, either at Hobart or Adelaide. James Sutherland, Cricket Australia chief, and his New Zealand Cricket counterpart David White are supportive of the innovation and its clear benefits. For a few years, there has been a lot of talks about organizing Test matches under lights to attract more crowd but playing with the red ball was not feasible in a day night atmosphere so pink balls came into existence. 

The trials have continued across the globe to find out whether pink ball has the durability to last in the day-night Test matches.  From Marylebourne Cricket Club to the Australians, the organizations are gearing up for a different type of five day match. Back in 2011, Rahul Dravid had backed calls for the introduction of day-night Tests. 

The cricket fanatics love watching Test cricket but because of their busy schedules in the day time, they are left with no time for the game. However, if cricket administrators take Test matches to a time which can balance fans working hours as well as the game, there is chance that they may head to the stadiums. Even cricket boards have acted strangely at times.  We have seen that Test matches are played in the week days, leaving spectators with no other option apart from ignoring the proceedings. With the day-night Test matches coming in, this could counter the problem.While putting all the emphasis on the crowd, the ball is the biggest concern at the moment. Several players from Australia have reported that pink ball becomes softer earlier when compared to regular red ball.  It leads to problem in shot making as a batsman requires more energy to carve the ball through the field.

The worst case scenario could be in the sub-continent where spinners like to use an old ball for a longer duration of time even after new ball is available.  This is sure to make like of a batsman difficult on the turning tracks. Despite all the odds and the concerns, the idea of organizing a day-night Test match is good and should see the day light in the near future.  

The longest format of the game needs to attract crowd to save itself from extinction. The ball is now in the court of cricket boards and they must do something to pump new life into the classical format. Perhaps, there is a need to change the rules a bit. If the pink ball has the tendency to lose it hardness after a quota of overs than make the new ball available earlier as this would easily solve the problem. Let's be very realistic to ourselves that Test cricket has lost its sheen in many countries. India, England and Australia are the only places which have got a good market for the Test matches but the remaining destinations have failed to perform consistently as far as the participation of the fans are concerned. So it's better to go ahead with the idea of day-night Test matches.

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