KARACHI // Day-night Test matches moved a step closer to acceptance after cricket's governing body endorsed a trial first class match in Pakistan under lights with a coloured ball.
"I don't see any problems with the behaviour of the ball or playing under lights. This match would help us in our proposal to see Test cricket under lights," Dave Richardson, the International Cricket Council (ICC) general manager of cricket affairs told Geo news channel.
Richardson watched some of the five-day Quaid-e-Azam trophy final at the National Stadium between the country's two top teams.
The match was played under floodlights in a bid to attract crowds and raise the profile of Pakistan's domestic cricket.
A pink ball was first used in trials in the UAE between two English county teams. It has also been tried in Australia and the West Indies. The ball would enable players to wear white clothing under floodlit conditions with white sight screens.
The traditional red ball is hard to see under lights. White balls are used successfully in day-night one-day matches but the players wear coloured clothing and black sightscreens are employed.
"The good thing is that this final has shown it is possible to play first class and Test matches in a day-night format with orange colour balls," Javed Miandad, the former captain and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) director general of cricket told reporters. He said the PCB would send a report to the ICC after seeing the reports of the captains and officials.
"The good thing is that on all five days we got no complaints from anyone about playing in this format being difficult," he said.
