Sri Lanka on Friday turned down a request from Pakistan to play day-night Tests in the upcoming series in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where both countries have loyal fans.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said it decided against playing day-night Tests “since the national team players have not practised under lights and with the new pink ball”.
The challenge facing such Tests has been to find a ball that is clearly visible in both sunshine and floodlights, and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said it had sent the Sri Lankan board a dozen balls of pink and orange colour for them to examine.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) had approved the day-night matches under floodlights as a way to stem dwindling interest in Tests in many countries. The UAE has a large expatriate Pakistani community but few show up to watch Test matches, in part because they are played during the day when most are at work.
No country has yet tried the new format and the ICC has left it to individual boards to decide when and how to experiment.
Pakistan has been forced to play its “home” internationals at neutral venues, mainly in the UAE, since militants attacked the Sri Lankan team during a Test in Lahore in 2009.
Pakistan host Sri Lanka for three Tests, five one-day internationals and two Twenty20s in December and January in the UAE and Sarwar had thought that the conditions were right to experiment. The first Test starts in Dubai on December 31. The other two Tests are in Abu Dhabi (January 8-12) and Sharjah (January 16-20).