Andrew Strauss said Thursday he was in favour of day/night Tests as one o his fellow England and Wales Cricket Board officials said it was just a matter of time before such a match was played in the sport's birthplace. Attendances for Test cricket in England have held up well compared to many other countries. And there is a view that, with the English cricket season coinciding with the longest daylight hours in Britain's calendar, there is no great need for radical change.
But the way spectators flocked to the first Test played under floodlights between Australia and New Zealand in Adelaide in November has not gone unnoticed by former England captain Strauss, despite concerns from players regarding the visibility of the pink ball deemed necessary for day/night matches. "There's much more of a will around the world to embrace day-night Tests," Strauss, now the ECB's director of England cricket, told BBC Radio. "There's still some niggley issues, but, in principle, I'm for it," he added in an interview broadcast during the opening day's play in the first Test between England and Sri Lanka at Headingley. "If people can come after work and see a stunning spectacle in the five-day format, I'm for it." His comments were backed up by ECB chairman Colin Graves, who said: "You can't turn your back on it, it will happen.