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Lord's and Edgbaston eye 2017 floodlit Test

Edgbaston and Lord's are in pole position to host the first floodlit Test in England against West Indies in 2017

George Dobell
George Dobell
27-May-2016
The summer of 2017 could see the first day-night Test staged in England, with Lord's and Edgbaston the most likely venues.
Both venues are keen, in theory, to explore the possibility of staging an August Test against West Indies under lights. The final decision whether and where a floodlit game is played will be made by the ECB.
"We have talked about it internally," Warwickshire chief executive, Neil Snowball, told ESPNcricinfo, "and we do think it is worth considering."
A key part of the attraction for Warwickshire would be the novelty. Under normal circumstances, they might expect a Test against West Indies to prove a relatively tough sell and feel that staging it under lights could help attract a larger audience.
It is also believed that Birmingham City Council, who have a long-standing relationship with Warwickshire and helped fund the redevelopment of Edgbaston, would be supportive of the initiative in the hope that it brought exposure and revenue to the area.
"There is a lot to be considered," Snowball said, "such as the pitch, the dew, the ball and many other factors. But if we can work those things out and the ECB agree, it is an attractive possibility."
The MCC, who have an excellent record of selling games against most opposition, also have a history of spearheading the experimentation into day-night cricket and are expected to discuss the issue at up-coming committee meetings in June.
While Lord's is limited to 15 days of floodlight usage a year - any time the floodlights are raised constitutes a usage - to appease local residents, they would expect to allocate 10 of those days to the two Tests they host each season. A spokesman confirmed they were interested in the idea, but stressed that any decision would be made by the ECB.
There is another Test against West Indies allocated for Headingley, but Yorkshire have not held serious discussions about the possibility of hosting a floodlit Test and would not do so until the exact dates for the series have been announced when a proper assessment of climate issues could be made.
The summer of 2017 also sees England host the ICC Champions Trophy (starting on June 1 and finishing on June 18), a four-Test series against South Africa and then the three Test series against West Indies.
Australia hosted the first day-night Test against New Zealand in Adelaide in November and England are expected to play at least one day-night Test during the next Ashes tour in 2017-18.
The ECB chairman, Colin Graves, recently told the BBC he would "love to see day-night cricket" and the ECB have raised the idea of playing the second Test on the tour of Bangladesh in October under lights.
While it seems unlikely that such an agreement can be reached in time for that tour, it does seem that the first day-night Test involving England is likely to occur within the next 18 months.

George Dobell is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo