Mumbai: Australia will clash against South Africa in a day-night Test match, the third of the series, at Adelaide in November, Cricket South Africa said today.
“Cricket South Africa (CSA) is pleased to announce that the third Test against Australia in Adelaide, starting on 24 November 2016, will be a day-night fixture,” said a CSA media release.
“Following careful consideration and engagement with all our Test players, and acknowledging the need to exploit the potential of playing day-night Test match cricket, I am pleased to announce that we have agreed with Cricket Australia to proceed with this fixture,” CSA’s Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said.
James Sutherland, the Chief Executive for Cricket Australia, welcomed the development.
“Cricket fans will be delighted to hear the news that the third match of the Test series against South Africa will be played as a day-night match, particularly those planning to attend Adelaide Oval,” the CSA release quoted Sutherland.
“Nearly 124,000 people attended the inaugural day-night Test match in Adelaide last year (Australia v New Zealand) and there has been great anticipation about future day-night Tests since. It’s wonderful that the next one in Australia will be against South Africa,” he added.
“As players, we are really happy to have grown our confidence to play a day-night Test match in a positive way,” commented Proteas’ captain, AB de Villiers.
De Villiers said the match would be a landmark event for his team.
“We were never against this exciting concept, but only wanted to give ourselves the best opportunity of competing in conditions that will be new and foreign to us. Two warm-up matches will hopefully give us an idea of what to expect and hopefully our preparations will help us to adapt accordingly,” he said.
“This will be the first time that our players in the Test squad will play pink ball Test match cricket in front of such a large crowd and to be part of this novel concept will no doubt be a landmark moment in all of our careers,” he added.