West Indies mull over offer to play day-night Test against Pakistan on tour of UAE

The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) bid to stage a day-night Test in the UAE continues to be stalled by the reluctance of sides unwilling to commit to an idea cricket believes is vital to the future of its longest format.

A pink cricket ball used at the Adelaide Oval in Southern Australia for the first day-night Test between Australia and New Zealand on November 26, 2015. Saeed Khan / AFP

The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) bid to stage a day-night Test in the UAE continues, slowed down only by the reluctance of sides unwilling to commit to an idea cricket believes is vital to the future of its longest format.

Pakistan first proposed a day-night Test against Sri Lanka for their series in the UAE at the end of 2013 but the tourists outright rejected the idea. For this home season, the PCB have resurrected the idea with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) whose team is scheduled to visit for a full tour this winter.

According to them, the offer was made in March at which point the WICB was not particularly enthused about the idea.

But after the recent International Cricket Council (ICC) meetings in Dubai, where boards were urged to renew their commitment to more day-night Tests, West Indies are thought to be revisiting the offer and have not yet ruled out the prospect. One board member stressed that ultimately the prerogative for how a series is structured remains with the home board, so that it is, to a degree, incumbent upon a visiting side to agree to such an initiative.

While some PCB officials are not overly confident, others are “quietly confident” that the day-night Test will now come to pass.

The contrast between the intent of boards and the actions of boards when it comes to day-night Tests was the subject of discussions at the ICC meetings. “There was talk of Test cricket, where we say on one hand there should be pink balls [and day-night Tests], we have to protect it, but on the other hand we are not prepared to innovate and go ahead,” one official at the meeting told The National.

“Like Cricket South Africa refused to play with a pink ball with Australia. Why do countries take this approach where they acknowledge they have to protect Test cricket but on the other hand also don’t want to take that step?”

New Zealand are also publicly committed to day-night Tests, but their team had to be offered a financial incentive to play the first one against in Australia last year. But they are more conducive to India’s suggestion to play one when they tour later this year.

As in the case of South Africa’s reluctance (and Sri Lanka’s initially), a recurring concern seems to be that players have not had enough practice in these conditions to feel comfortable playing a Test. According to a PCB official, that reason forms the basis of the WICB’s early reservations.

The Pakistan side will definitely play a day-night Test before the end of the year, though it will be away from home in Brisbane on their tour of Australia in December.

The PCB has been one of the early proponents of the concept and feels day-night Tests in the UAE could help in attracting greater crowds, generally conspicuous by their absence at the longer format matches.

They have already staged three finals of their premier first-class tournament, the Quaid-e-Azam trophy (QEA), under lights. According to one official, this upcoming domestic season, which begins in October, “will have 4-5 matches under lights to get players practice. We are importing dozens of pink balls so that players can get used to it”.

The final of this year’s QEA was played with a pink ball under lights in January in Karachi. There were no hundreds, though Younis Khan came close with 98, and Misbah-ul-Haq made twin fifties.

Though the ball was not the Kookaburra version used in the day-night Test between Australia and New Zealand last year, views on its performance were contrasting.

Shan Masood, the Pakistan Test opener, made 14 and 8 but spent over two hours at the crease against a new ball. In his second innings he batted in the evening and found that these new conditions did not radically change the essential battle.

"It's a matter of mindset," Masood told The National. "We had to get through 10-11 overs [on the second evening] and if I'm being honest, I don't think it did that much. I know there's lights, it's different, people have different ideas, people who like playing free-flowing shots and it does stop you. You have to take your time you have to get set in, but it came on to the bat OK."

Masood did not bat long enough to face an older pink ball but saw that the lacquer coming off was problematic. “The sighting of it was brilliant, because you cannot miss the colour. It’s quite bright and it gives a good view.

“But I think when it gets old is when the problem is. The lacquer tends to come off and it gets multi-coloured. But I haven’t faced that. With the newer ball a lot of players were complaining that the ball will do a lot under lights, but I don’t think it did that much.”

Others who played in that game, including Misbah and Azhar Ali, said at the time that the ball had done more than usual and that visibility in the field was an issue at certain times. These are not unusual concerns, having been cited in almost all experiments with day-night games and different coloured balls.

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