County cricket will take a "leap of faith" with a round of floodlit championship matches designed to prepare England players for the first day-night Test in the country, according to Nick Hoult of the London GUARDIAN. The fixtures fall a few days after the longest day "so the floodlights will be barely used but the county schedule is so tightly packed, with Twenty20 cricket played in a block for a month from the first week of July, that this round of matches was the only option ahead of the floodlit Test against the West Indies at Edgbaston in August." A pink ball made by Duke, the company that manufactures red balls used in Test and county cricket in England, "will be used after it was successfully trialled in the Champion County match in Abu Dhabi in March." Matches start at 2pm with "lunch" at 4pm and tea at 6:40pm with a cut off at 10pm. Counties are "offering discounts after the first session to try to lure the after-work crowd who will have a rare chance to see some of the best players in England in domestic action." With floodlit Test cricket spreading around the world -- England is playing a day-night Test in Adelaide this winter -- "there will be more rounds of County Championship cricket played under the lights in the future" (GUARDIAN, 6/24).
