Thursday, June 25, 2009

Gilchrist warns against day/night Tests


Australia great Adam Gilchrist has spoken out against the advent of day/night Test cricket.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) said Thursday it was looking into day/night Tests which, if a suitable ball could be developed along with several other conditions, could lead to a Test under floodlights in 2010.

It also said the controversial umpire referral system would be rolled out in Test matches from October.

But former wicket-keeper/batsman Gilchrist, giving the Cowdrey Lecture at Lord's on Wednesday, said: "Many of cricket's innovations should be applied only in the shorter forms of the game.

"This not only includes the expanded umpire referral system, but especially the mooted introduction of night Test cricket and a different coloured ball needed to accommodate this.

"My personal experience nearly 15 years ago with night Sheffield Shield cricket was that it struggled because of the very different playing conditions between day and night.

"Often it made for an unfair contest, especially when batting, which always seemed much more difficult late in the evening than earlier in the afternoon.

"But all of this begs the bigger question - why play around with Test cricket at all?

"Fine tune maybe, but not fundamental changes. As someone recently said - you don't see the London Philharmonic doing a rappers' remix of Beethoven's Fifth - so why should cricket do the same with its masterpiece?"

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