Published: Apr 18, 2016, 04:48 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 18, 2016, 04:57 PM (IST)
South Africa are unhappy with Cricket Australia‘s plan to host a day-night Test at Adelaide later this year. The Proteas are scheduled to tour down under for a 3-match Test series during the month of November-December. They were set play Test matches at Perth and Hobart before finishing their tour with a day-night game at Adelaide. Citing lack of knowledge for the players and uncertainty, Cricket South Africa are unsure about the pink-ball Test. The first Day-Night Test took place between Australia and New Zealand last November. It was an historic match as the idea of playing under lights was finally achieved. The match was watched worldwide with huge success. ALSO READ: Brisbane to become second city to host Day-Night Pink-ball Test
But citing his team’s discomfort, CSA chief executive Tony Irish said, “Not a single one of our players has played with the pink ball under lights at any level of cricket and, despite the fairly widespread praise of the concept in Australia, player feedback from Australia and New Zealand indicates that there are still significant on field concerns,” Irish, who is also the head of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations, told SuperSport.
“A number of players from both teams said they had trouble seeing the ball in the evening and that conditions had to be doctored to preserve the condition of the ball. The players are not totally against the concept or anti innovation but feel that this is still very experimental and this is obviously an important series for them.
“They don’t want to be out there not knowing what to expect in what could be a match which decides the series. More work needs to be done on making the ball more durable. From a South African point of view the players feel it would be extremely disadvantageous to agree to playing a day-nighter at this stage and in such a big series. I think it’s highly unlikely that CSA (Cricket South Africa) will agree,” reported cricket.com.au
This could come as a huge blow to Cricket Australia, who have already scheduled a series against Pakistan right after this. Pakistan would be touring Australia for a 3-match series, with the first Test to be played under lights with pink ball at Brisbane. Any change in the schedule with South Africa could hugely affect CA and its series against Pakistan.
