New Zealand Cricket appears to be "pushing ahead with plans to trial day-night first class matches" as it builds toward hosting its inaugural pink ball home test against England in '18, according to Greg Stutchbury of REUTERS. NZC released its '16-17 domestic fixture list on Tuesday and Wellington Regional Stadium, "which has never hosted a first class match and has been used solely for day-night limited-overs international cricket, is to host one of the Plunket Shield games scheduled to begin on March 6." Auckland's Eden Park and Hamilton's Seddon Park, both of which have lights, "will also host matches starting on March 6." All three games "have not had their start times confirmed," while every other Plunket Shield match in the '16-17 season has a traditional start time of 10:30am. NZC said that it "hoped to play" its first day-night test match at home against England in '18 (REUTERS, 8/30).
AFGHAN ODI SERIES: DAWN reported Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hassan said that the country will host its first one-day int'l series against Afghanistan in late September "in preparation for the arrival of the England team." Hassan said that the Afghan team, which is based in India, "agreed to play three ODIs at Dhaka's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on September 25, 28 and 30." The matches "will be the first ODIs hosted by Bangladesh since last year" when it won series against Pakistan, India, South Africa and Zimbabwe (DAWN, 8/29).
