Prospects of Test Matches under lights look bright
The proposal for holding Day-Night Test matches is gathering strength within the cricketing circles. This was evident when the International Cricket Council endorsed the final of Pakistan's domestic Quaid-i-Azam trophy under lights.
The ICC sent its general manager of cricket, Dave http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Richardson-c85395, to monitor the match and give a report regarding the possibility of holding five day matches under lights.
Richardson, while talking to a local sports channel, said, "I don't see any problems with the behavior of the ball or playing under lights. This match would help us in our proposal to see Test cricket under lights".
The ICC general manager of cricket affairs witnessed the match played at the national stadium in Karachi between the two top domestic teams of the country (http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-International-Airlines-c831). An orange ball was used in the five-day final,
which was a new concept in the world of cricket. In the past, a pink ball has been experimentally used by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 and England.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-White-c41360 ball is used in One-Day cricket matches, with a black sight-screen, and the players wear colored clothes in the shorter version of the game, which makes it easier to spot the white ball. In Test cricket, since the players wear white clothes, it is
impossible to play with the white ball, and the regular red ball, that has been used in Test cricket ever since the game was invented, is difficult to see at night, due to which the ICC has not been able to hold Test matches under floodlights so far.
However, in the Quaid-i-Azam final, the players wearing white used an orange ball with a white sight-screen, and, according to details, there have been no complaints regarding the visibility of the ball.
Talking on the matter of the visibility of the ball, Pakistan Cricket Boards (PCB) director general, the legendary former Pakistan batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Javed-Miandad-c66580, said, "The good thing is that on all five days, we got no complaints from anyone about playing in this
format being difficult".
Regarding the possibility of ICC adopting the orange ball for Tests, Miandad said, "This final has shown that it is possible to play... Test matches in a Day-Night format with orange colored balls".
He went on to say, "But as far as the International Cricket Council is concerned it is up to them how they approach this new concept which can be done".
The basic reason for the ICC to hold Test matches under lights is to try to make Test cricket more result oriented and attractive for spectators, as the current format results in draws too many times.
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