Amongst the many formats of cricket matches, the fantasy cricket fans of 11wickets app for Android/iOS are now inclining over test series.
The test matches are gaining their lost momentum with the start of day and night matches again. With the Pink Ball Day & Night Test Match of India vs Bangladesh in November 2019, the craze has risen for the daily fantasy cricket fans.
Interestingly, even the online fantasy cricket fans who are not keen viewers of Test Matches have increasingly begun to follow it. A lot of people who want to know more about Day-Night Test Match, this post will walk you through some of the most important aspects of the Day-Night Cricket Test Match. Read on and play fantasy cricket leagues to win exciting prizes.
Knowing the History of Day-Night Cricket
Though the world knew much about day-night cricket only much later in the late 70s when Kerry Packer made it popular, the first game under the floodlights was played in 1952.
It was played at the Arsenal Stadium, where floodlights were installed in the summer before for football. The cricket match was played between the Arsenal Football Club and Middlesex County Cricket Club for the benefit of Jack Young.
It took two decades and a disgruntled media mogul to bring day and night matches back to popularity. It was not without difficulty that Kerry Packer made this format of the game popular. The tests that were played under the lights were not big crowd-pullers.
But the shorter format with just 50 overs attracted a lot of crowds.
Due to the disagreement between Packer and the Australian Cricket Board, the traditional cricket grounds were not available for the day-night matches. This forced the World Cup Series matches to be conducted in football stadiums, trotting tracks, and showgrounds. It was here for the first time “drop-in” pitches were used.
Day-Night Test Match for the First Time Ever
Many other things were done for the first time other than the timing. The name tests could not be used for the Kerry Packer tests and hence the name “supertests” was used for the first time.
It was in the first season of 1977-78 that for the first time, helmets were used in cricket.
This was because the WSC had adopted a more aggressive style of cricket to attract more people to
The Beginning of the Day-Night Test Matches
But the day & night format will come much later to the test matches. Though most countries welcomed the short format of the day & night matches England remained hesitant to join the bandwagon.
Another outcome of the day & night matches was the use of pink balls. In 2000 for the first time, pink balls were used in the official day & night match in West Indies between Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago.
Cricket Australia, the Indian Premier League, and the Bangladesh Cricket League also tried playing with the pink balls. Abu Dhabi hosted the curtain raiser game for the English cricket season as a day & night match using pink balls. The match had a good response.
It will be interesting to note that the first day & night first-class test match was played in India during April 1997, much earlier than it will hit the international cricket circuit. But only white balls were used in this Ranji Trophy final match between Delhi and Mumbai.
The first international day & night test match was played at the Adelaide Oval on the 27th of November 2015 between Australia and New Zealand. The series was of three day & night test matches using pink balls.
In October 2016 Dubai hosted the second day & night test match which was played between Pakistan and West Indies where Pakistan team was the winners. Australia also hosted two day & night test matches. One was against South Africa and the other against Pakistan. In August 2017 England also started playing the day & night test matches.
Thanks for reading! Play fantasy sports and enjoy!
Read More:
1. Facts about Indian Icon Woman Batrsman – Harmanpreet Kaur
2. Fantasy Cricket Records – Bowlers Capable to Score a Century at Tests
3. Fantasy Cricket – Lesser Known Facts of Cricket