Cricket Australia unveiled plans yesterday for day-night Tests against South Africa and Pakistan, but admitted player concerns about the experimental format meant the Proteas’ fixture was not locked in.
The day-night Tests using a pink ball are a central part of Australia’s home international schedule for 2016-17, which also features limited-over matches against three nations.
Administrators regard the inaugural day-night Test against New Zealand in Adelaide last season as an outstanding success, attracting 123,000 spectators and an average television audience of two million.
However, players from both sides complained about the pink ball’s movement and durability, as well as the difficulty batsmen faced seeing it under lights.
CA chief executive James Sutherland said Pakistan had agreed to play a day-night Test in Brisbane, but that South Africa’s players had refused to commit to a similar fixture in Adelaide.
“Understandably, there is some concern from the South African players,” Sutherland said, underlining CA’s argument that innovation was needed to reinvigorate Test cricket. “Day-night Test cricket is all about the fans and a day-night match in Adelaide will be a bigger Test match crowd than the South African players will have ever experienced.”
South African players association chief Tony Irish said this week that the Proteas, unlike their Australian rivals, had no experience with the pink ball and did not want to be disadvantaged in the Test series.
“The reluctance to play is a sign of how much importance the South African players place on the series against Australia,” he told The Australian newspaper.
Proteas captain AB De Villiers said South Africa’s reluctance is based on Australian feedback from their first match with the pink ball against New Zealand, adding that their inexperience with the specially developed pink ball would place them at a disadvantage.
Cricket Australia (CA) are determined for the game to go ahead, however, and said they were still working to confirm it with South Africa’s board.
Australia defeated New Zealand in the inaugural day-night Test in November at Adelaide Oval, a match which drew huge crowds and big television audiences.
Although players from both sides hailed it a success, they also had reservations about the pink ball’s visibility and movement from twilight into the evening.
De Villiers said his team had sought feedback from Australia before the World Twenty20 and both sides walked away from their meeting reluctant to play the Adelaide game.
“At the moment, we are not too keen on playing in the proposed day-night Test match due to a few concerns that have come from a number of sources involved in the maiden Test played last year,” De Villiers told South Africa’s Independent Media.
“We had a meeting with (captain) Steve Smith and some of the Australian players when they toured here earlier this year, and the consensus from our talks were that there are just too many unknowns.
“Players from both teams were reluctant to go ahead with it. South Africa and Australia have a great cricketing rivalry, and this is a series that we value. We could well be playing for an opportunity to regain the number one Test ranking, so playing a day-night match is a fundamental change to the itinerary,” De Villiers added.
South Africa, currently rated third in the world, will be aiming to replace Australia as the top-ranked Test team in the series, with the planned day-nighter in Adelaide looming as a potential decider.
The CA schedule also breaks with tradition by stripping Brisbane’s Gabba of its customary hosting rights to the first Test of the season.
Instead the first Test against South Africa will be held in Perth from November 3-7, with Brisbane hosting the opening Test against Pakistan from December 15-19.
Sutherland said holding a day-night Test in Brisbane during the school holiday would draw big crowds, while opening the Test season against the Proteas in Perth would attract the city’s large South African community.
In addition to three-Test series against South Africa and Pakistan, the schedule also includes five one-dayers against Pakistan, three against New Zealand and three Twenty20 internationals against Sri Lanka.