No thanks, West Indies need no day-night Tests

It is a strange irony that the timing of international television coverage out of the Caribbean effectively eliminates the West Indies from the increasing move towards Test cricket under lights at the same time as it obliges the Caribbean Premier League CPL Twenty20 tournament to revert to daytime for all but four of its 31 matches in its second season that got underway recentlyTony CozierIt appears that only the ts are to be crossed and the is dotted for the first night Test in November 2015 between Australia and New Zealand either in Adelaide or HobartIt could be the games latest lasting innovation to follow those of Kerry Packers World Series Cricket WSC which introduced its own night Supertests as far back as 1979 and Lalit Modis Indian Premier League IPLThe purpose is to reverse the decline in attendances causing concern over the survival of the traditional unadulterated form of the game against its newest trendiest offshoot Twenty20The theory is that play from 2 pm to 9 pm would allow the public to take in most of the last two sessions after office hoursThe pink ball will be used It has been tested under lights in recent years in firstclass matches in the West Indies Australia and between English county teams in the Emirates Not all the players least for all the Australians are in favour but the boards regard it as a fait accompliWhether the experiment ndash for that is what it would be ndash is permanent or not it wont involve Tests in the Caribbean The regional cricket centres are far enough to the west of the other countries that live television would be delivered at inhospitable hoursA local 9 pm close of play would be one or two in the morning in England an hour later in South Africa Indians would have to watch from 1030 pm to 530 next morning A 10 am5 pm day equates to 2 or 3 pm9 or 10 pm in the UK ideal schedulingIts the reason why the West Indies have staged no more than a couple of ODIs under lights and none for a decade Even matches in the 2007 World Cup and the 2012 World Twenty20 were daylight encountersFor the recent three Tests against New Zealand the West Indies Cricket Board WICB attempted to boost attendances by appreciably lowering ticket prices by the time the series got to Barbados for the decider US5 was the most expensiveHere was a contest between evenlymatched national teams jostling for positions in the ICC rankings It featured fascinating fluctuations from one match to the next one day to the next one session to the next before New Zealand secured their 21 triumph nearing the end of the final day of the seriesOnly matches over five days without artificial restrictions can offer such ebb and flowIt might have been enough to give a bit of a boost to the publics waning interest Instead there was rarely more than a couple of thousand in the stands for the five days at Queens Park capacity 22000 about as many as would once turn out for a club matchWhile certain extenuating circumstances existed in this case the simultaneous attraction of the omnipresent football World Cup West Indies dismal recent record the lack of star players on either side Tests everywhere England excepted have long since failed the bumsonseats testThe floodlit proposal is the obvious corollary In a recent column in The Times the former England captain Mike Atherton reckoned night Tests were worth a try surelyNo one is suggesting daynight Test cricket should be played in England but imagine a Test match in Bridgetown Barbados for example he wroteThe last session of play could be played on a warm evening with light falling quickly and cheap tickets for the final session could encourage the working man in Bridgetown to pop in for a couple of hours to enjoy something he might not otherwise have a chance to seeIt is an agreeable image except it wont happen for the same reason the CPL has had to alter its timesThe staging of its matches with the lowering temperature of the evenings when fans were free of their 9to5 jobs guaranteed sellout crowds at all six CPL venues last yearThe lights meshed perfectly with the carnival atmosphere typical of the Caribbean and its slogan the biggest party in sport Calypso rhythms fireworks and dancing girls were added to the mix that made it a rousing successItll have a different feel over the coming six weeks of the second season With a new contract with BT Sport television channels in England to be considered it made the adjustmentAfter all television contracts are the main revenue earners as much for the CPL as for the WICBIn the circumstances the CPL launched a regional twitter petition calling on businesses and governments across the region to let employees leave work early to watch the midweek CPL game in their respective countriesThe petition it stated is a rallying cry to cricket fans and party people alike to fight for their right to enjoy the biggest party in sport It ignored the economic realities that have forced most of the vulnerabe ministates of the Caribbean to cut public service jobs and adopt IMFinduced austerity measuresThe biggest party in sport takes in two new islands in 2014 Bouyed by University of the West Indies UWI research that put the CPLs combined impact at US1056 million in the countries where it was played in 2013 the Grenada government reportedly paid US500000 for the first three matches to be staged at its National Stadium the StKittsNevis government is said to have spent US1 million to hold nine matches including semifinals and final at Windsor Park in BasseterreThey clearly regard it as a worthy investment regardless of the timing of the tv coverage