Aus still trying to convince India for day-night Test

SYDNEY: Australian cricket chiefs are trying to convince reluctant India to play a day-night Test in Adelaide this year after releasing their international schedule on Monday. Cricket Australia have scheduled the opening Test of the four-test India series in Adelaide from December 6-10, with hopes it will be a pink ball match following concept successes against New Zealand, South Africa and England in recent years.

Australia believes day-night Test cricket is the future and perhaps the only way to save the format despite boom TV ratings and record crowds. But the BCCI have so far resisted CA’S overtures. CA will play a pink-ball Test against Sri Lanka in Brisbane from January 24-28 next year, but chief executive James Sutherland said he was still negotiating with India.

“It is our preference that we play India in a day-night Test match in Adelaide, but we are still working through this detail and hope to have an answer on this in the coming weeks,” he said.

Sutherland has been pushing hard at International Cricket Council level for the new Test Championship schedule to include day-night Tests, but the powerful BCCI has a big say in outcomes. CA confirmed Australia

will face South Africa in a T20 international on Queensland’s Gold Coast, while the new Perth Stadium and Canberra’s Manuka Oval will both host Test cricket for the first time. But Hobart misses out.

The international season starts on November 4 with the first of three One-day Internationals against South Africa before the one-off T20 against the Proteas on the Gold Coast, which will be followed by three T20s against India preceding the start of the Test summer.