Skip to content

South Africa to play day-night Test against Australia in November

The sun sets over the Adelaide Oval during the first day-night cricket Test match between Australia and New Zealand in Adelaide on November 27, 2015
Image: The sun sets over the Adelaide Oval during the first day-night cricket Test match between Australia and New Zealand in Adelaide on November 27, 2015

South Africa have confirmed that the third and final Test of the tour of Australia will be a day-night fixture at Adelaide Oval starting on November 24.

The Proteas had been reluctant to play a day-night match having never played with a pink ball but with two warm-up matches under lights planned for the October-November tour, CSA said they were now willing to play the fixture.

"Following careful consideration and engagement with all our test players, and acknowledging the need to exploit the potential of playing day-night test match cricket, I am pleased to announce that we have agreed with Cricket Australia to proceed with this fixture," said CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat. 

New Zealand's paceman Tim Southee bowls against Australia during the first day-night cricket Test match at the Adelaide Oval in November last year.
Image: New Zealand's paceman Tim Southee bowls against Australia during the first day-night cricket Test match at the Adelaide Oval in November last year

"Our Proteas were initially hesitant to play such a key test match without previous experience and adequate preparation but after working through all their concerns and the possible options to prepare sufficiently, there is new-found excitement for this novel Test match."

South Africa captain AB de Villiers added that the major concern for the players was having adequate preparation with a pink ball.

"We were never against this exciting concept but only wanted to give ourselves the best opportunity of competing in conditions that will be new and foreign to us," he said.

Australia's paceman Josh Hazlewood tosses the pink ball between deliveries in the first day-night Test
Image: Josh Hazlewood tosses the pink ball between deliveries. AB de Villiers has admitted his concern at using it

"Two warm-up matches will hopefully give us an idea of what to expect and hopefully our preparations will help us to adapt accordingly.

Also See:

"This will be the first time that our players in the test squad will play pink ball test match cricket in front of such a large crowd and to be part of this novel concept will no doubt be a landmark moment in all of our careers."

The first day-night Test was played between Australia and New Zealand in Adelaide last year and drew 124,000 spectators despite only lasting three days. 

Around Sky