Australia plans day-night tests against South Africa, Pakistan

MELBOURNE: Cricket Australia has scheduled day-night test matches against South Africa and Pakistan in a revamped southern summer that will break with tradition by starting in Perth. CA on Wednesday released a program including a three-test series against South Africa, opening in Perth on Nov. 3 and moving to Hobart before a proposed — yet to be confirmed — day-night match in Adelaide. A second three-test series against Pakistan will begin with a day-nighter in Brisbane on Dec. 15 before moving to Melbourne and Sydney in the traditional Boxing Day and New Year's timeslots. In between those series, Australia will play New Zealand in three limited-overs internationals. Australia will host Pakistan in five ODIs in January before concluding the domestic summer with three Twenty20 internationals against Sri Lanka. The Gabba in Brisbane has become the recognized venue to open the summer in recent decades and has become a fortress for the Australians, who have not lost a test match there since 1988 and have been defeated just eight times in 58 tests. The South Africans have never won a test in Brisbane and have never lost in Perth, having two victories and a draw in their three previous tests at the WACA Ground. "The decision to start the international season in Perth allows us to do so with a bang," Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said. "It gives Western Australian cricket fans, including a strong local South African community, the chance to see two of the world's best sides, while allowing us to broadcast the match in prime time to the east coast of Australia." The first ever day-night test was staged in Adelaide last year, with Australia beating New Zealand in a low-scoring match using a pink ball. It was a TV ratings success and attracted a record crowd for a non-Ashes test in Adelaide, but players from both teams had concerns about the pink ball and its visibility and movement at certain times of the game. The South African players' association has expressed reservations about playing a day-night test with a pink ball and there's no agreement yet that the third test of the series will be played under those conditions. "Understandably, there is some concern from the South African players, but day-night test cricket is all about the fans and a day-night match in Adelaide will be a bigger test match crowd than the South African players will have ever experienced," Sutherland said. "The success of Adelaide last year demonstrates the huge potential the format has in revitalizing test cricket all over the world, and it's for that reason that it is our desire to stage another test under lights at that venue." Pakistan has committed to the day-night test in sub-tropical Brisbane, where Sutherland said the climate is ideal for the format. "We've had a number of pink ball trials under lights in Brisbane and believe that the time is right," he said. "Pakistan should be applauded for committing to and supporting the day-night test initiative."