Day/night cricket

In 1979, when the ICC and World Series Cricket came to an understanding, the first floodlit One Day International was played, also in Australia.

Although the idea was birthed in the western Adelaide suburb of Cowandilla in the 1930s,[3][4] which led to an 11 team Electric Light Cricket competition there in the 1930s,[5] it is believed that the first match played under floodlights in England was on 11 August 1952, between Middlesex County Cricket Club and Arsenal Football Club.

The Times was not convinced of the success of floodlights in cricket, mischievously asking: "What is to prevent non-stop Test matches where the last wicket falls as the milkman arrives?

[7] After initial attendances at the matches were low, Packer moved from so called "Supertests" to one-day cricket, generally played under floodlights.

A year later – almost to the day, 44,377 people were inside the Sydney Cricket Ground to watch a floodlit one-day match between the same sides.

In England, opposition remained firm; not only was there lingering hostility towards Packer's World Series Cricket, but the differences in climate made the application difficult.

In contrast to Australia and South Africa, where twilight is minimal, and the light fades quickly, the long English evenings meant that the floodlights would only be required for the last hour or so of a match.

In the West Indies, the first floodlit first-class cricket match in which the teams used a pink ball, was played between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.

[11] The annual curtain-raiser to the English cricket season in 2010 was played under floodlights in Abu Dhabi, with a mixed but generally positive reception.

[18] Incidentally, the first day-night first-class match in India was held much earlier: in April 1997, the Ranji trophy final between Delhi and Mumbai was played at Gwalior under lights.