Yes please!
It sounds like an additional test this season is on the cards. India are scrambling to fill the gap in their schedule caused by their pulling out of their tour of Pakistan. They are negotiating with Sri Lanka to visit for a short ODI series and are also suggesting to NZC that they would like to squeeze in another test against New Zealand, which would make it a three-test series, turning it from a sham series to a real contest. Adding an extra test to the end of the test series would push it to mid-April. The last time this was tried, when Sri Lanka’s 04/05 series had to be rescheduled, it became borderline farcical as play at the Basin had to be abandoned around 5pm as the RA Vance stand shadow reached the pitch.
I wonder if there is a stadium they could schedule it at that doesn’t have any shadow-casting structures at the wrong part of the ground.
The other option is to bring the whole tour forward by a week. There is a massive gap in our schedule after the Chappel–Hadlee in February, but that would require rescheduling five ODIs and the 20-20. Or they could wrap the test series around the ODI series for a lark.
January 5th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I can’t imagine the litle pavilion at Seddon Park casting much of a shadow. Maybe move the first Test from Hamilton to Napier and give Hamilton the third Test.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
It appears all the limited overs games will be day/night affairs. Couldn’t they simply switch the test and ODI schedules? Or even wrap the ODIs around the tests, as you suggest.
Also, can someone fill me on on why Auckland and Christchurch continue to be overlooked as test venues? Have they been phased out, or does it have something to do with the reconstruction going on in those two stadiums?
January 6th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
It appears all the limited overs games will be day/night affairs. Couldn’t they simply switch the test and ODI schedules? Or even wrap the ODIs around the tests, as you suggest.
I can’t see them splitting the test series by the ODI series, so they will either have to reschedule a load of games, which I can see being a logistical nightmare, or playing the last test into twilight. I wonder if they would consider playing the last test as a day/nighter. May not work well with the red ball and by April it is getting quite cold after sundown.
Also, can someone fill me on on why Auckland and Christchurch continue to be overlooked as test venues? Have they been phased out, or does it have something to do with the reconstruction going on in those two stadiums?
I think they just don’t get decent crowds for tests in Auckland and Christchurch. If you are getting the same sort of crowd at tests in a smaller centre as you would in a big city, you’re better to play the tests in the smaller towns and the ODIs in the cities.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
[...] prosed additional test in the India tour faces the problem of poor light in April. Could a solution be to play it as a [...]
January 8th, 2009 at 10:34 am
A split test series would be shit.
In theory all that needs to be moved is the current 4th and 5th ODIs as well as the 20/20. Keep ODIs 1-3 where they are, and slip in the extra test where ODIs 4 and 5 used to be…
If only our limited over cricket wasn’t played at rugby grounds during the S14 or whatever it’s called these days.