The England & Wales Cricket Board and Warwickshire County Cricket Club has announced that Edgbaston Stadium will host the England cricket team’s first ever day/night Investec Test Match in 2017.
Taking place from Thursday, August 17 to Monday, August 21 next year, England will face the West Indies at Edgbaston in the first test of the Investec Series, which will be played with a pink Dukes ball between the hours of 2pm and 9pm, subject to ICC clearance.
The occasion also marks a significant milestone for Edgbaston as the 50th test match in its 115-year history as an international venue.
Neil Snowball, chief executive of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, said: “Bringing day/night test cricket to England is an innovative and very exciting development for the game, and we’re thrilled that Edgbaston will be the first venue to host a match played in this format.
“Edgbaston staged the UK’s first day/night domestic match in 1997 and has a great history of hosting and selling out some of the biggest fixtures in the game. In turn, the Edgbaston atmosphere and match-day experience has become iconic, with England having a fantastic record of victories here.
“Marking our 50th test anniversary with a game of this magnitude will be a great occasion. We will be working very closely with our delivery partners and key stakeholders on our planning and operations to ensure that this first ever day/night Investec Test Match is a huge success.”
The day/night format for the Investec Test Match follows a successful trial at Edgbaston in August of this year, where a Second XI Championship match was staged between Warwickshire and Worcestershire in similar conditions. Australia and New Zealand contested the world’s first day/night Test Match in Adelaide in November 2015.
ECB CEO Tom Harrison said, “We’re excited by the prospect of staging our first ever day/night Test Match.
“It’s a great opportunity to attract more fans to the game and see how staging test cricket in the afternoon and evening fits with working patterns and modern lifestyles, while maintaining the deep tradition of test match cricket.
“We think it can help attract different fans and families to test cricket and the innovation will certainly put the five-day game under the spotlight in a very busy summer for the game.
“A number of test nations are looking at day/night tests as a way of building further interest in our most traditional format. We’re glad to be supporting that and adding to the understanding of how this might develop in different countries.
“Our partners can also see the clear opportunity and have been supportive as we build toward this big occasion next August.
“We would like to thank the West Indies Cricket Board and Warwickshire CCC in particular for their support. Edgbaston has a great tradition of staging test cricket and we’re really looking forward to working with them on this innovation.”
October 13, 2016
