A top official said that India is "unlikely to embrace the concept of day/night Test matches" because a previous experiment in first-class cricket fell flat, according to the AFP. The Int'l Cricket Council announced this week that Tests can now be played under lights. Cricket Australia "applauded the move," but the Board of Control for Cricket in India "was lukewarm toward the idea," despite having tried the concept in a domestic final in '97. BCCI Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty said, "We were the first to experiment with this and our experience was not so great. At this stage we have no such proposal" (AFP, 10/31).
TRYING TO SURVIVE: In Chennai, S. Dinakar wrote the ICC's approval to day/night Tests and the "manner in which this has been done is nothing less than shocking." How can cricket's governing body "leave it to the member boards to decide on the type and colour of the ball to be used for a form of the game as important and prestigious as Test cricket?" Is the ICC "allowing cricket to be diluted?" Even if it supports day/night cricket, the ICC "clearly needs to specify the colour of the ball." The idea behind allowing night matches "is to attract more spectators," but then Test cricket is still "widely followed on TV." Test cricket is "quite simply the pinnacle of the sport." There are other ways to ensure that Test cricket "survives and does so in a manner that underlines its glory" (THE HINDU, 10/31).
