County Championship set for day-night action

23 October 2016 09:23

Next year's County Championship will feature a round of day-night matches, according to England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tom Harrison.

It was announced earlier this month that England would play a historic floodlit Test with a pink ball against the West Indies at Edgbaston next August in a bid to pique the interest of younger audiences.

The championship will follow suit for similar purposes although Harrison was reluctant to confirm whether any England players would be made available.

He told the BBC's Test Match Special: "We're playing a first-class round of day-night cricket next year, in the County Championship.

"It's too early to say if England players will be available, we're still knocking around the schedule. We'll try and give them the ability to do that but it's not the only reason we're doing this round of matches.

"It's about opening up a new audience for cricket, that's what's sitting behind this whole proposal."

The day-night format proved a roaring success when first trialled last November in Adelaide, where more than 123,000 people flocked through the gates across the three days of Australia's victory over New Zealand.

A day-night Ashes Test in 2017-18 is likely, says Harrison, which was one of the factors for the ECB's own experiment in trying the pink ball under lights.

He added: "Once the Adelaide Test a couple of years ago had gone so well, we were all interested in seeing whether the format worked in every market.

"We worked very closely with our Test team, led by (England captain) Alastair (Cook), and stressed that this is going to be part of the future, whether it's at home or away.

"The likelihood is we'll play one in Australia next winter and we have to be ready. We didn't want our first experience of it to be an Ashes Test but that's not the only reason.

"It gives us a summer with two global tournaments - the Champions Trophy and the women's event - we've got a Test series against South Africa, and people are talking about the Test against the West Indies."

Source: PA