Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket on Monday "announced they had progressed plans to stage the first ever day-night Test match in either Hobart or Adelaide in November 2015," according to David Barbeler of the AAP. The discussions come after the Int'l Cricket Council "paved the way for member countries to work together on staging Test cricket under lights." CA CEO James Sutherland admitted that the "strong push for day-night Test cricket had stemmed from TV ratings for Perth Test matches." He said figures showed the "later timezone bumped up nationwide audiences" by 40% -- "and they're aiming to have the proposed Test finish" at about 9:30pm each day. Sutherland: "We believe that's evidence of itself that we'll get greater viewership and more opportunities for people to attend" (AAP, 6/30). REUTERS' Ian Ransom reported Sutherland added that the "traditional Boxing Day test in Melbourne and Sydney's New Year's test would not be touched and both still played during the day" (REUTERS, 6/30). The BBC reported the move could lead to "the introduction of a pink ball to be used under lights." NZC CEO David White said that the two nations "would continue to work together to develop a pink ball suitable for Test conditions." White: "Ensuring the ball behaves as closely as possible to the red ball is vital for the success of this initiative" (BBC, 6/30). The London TELEGRAPH reported experiments with the concept of "floodlit first-class cricket have been ongoing in recent years." The Marylebone Cricket Club has helped to "drive forward the innovation by moving its traditional match against the champion county to Abu Dhabi, rather than Lord's, and playing the fixture partially under lights with a pink ball" (TELEGRAPH, 6/30).
