"PINK BALL" set for County Championship trial

County Championship cricket will be played using a pink ball under floodlights for the first time after the ECB approached Kent and Glamorgan with a proposal to stage their final match of the season under trial conditions.

Both teams have agreed on the proposal for the match at Canterbury on September 12 and the hours of play will be 2pm until 9pm - the floodlights will be turned on at 5.30pm but can be used earlier if needed - while players will wear white clothing. This particular match has been selected because neither side is in the Division Two promotion race.

This is the latest stage in the trials to determine whether Test match cricket could be played in day/night conditions. There have already been various trials, including the annual MCC verses Champion County match which has been staged in Abu Dhabi for the last two seasons and also in Pakistan and West Indian domestic tournaments. They have also been used in county second XI cricket and university matches, while Cricket Australia will trial twilight matches during this season's Sheffield Shield.

Both ICC and MCC, who have led the way in the process, believe floodlit Test cricket can become a reality soon although one of the major sticking points has been the colour of the ball. Tests have suggested pink is the best version but there remain concerns over batting during twilight periods.

The other factor that needs to be considered is the impact of dew, with can make the second innings of day/night one-day internationals very difficult, and that was an issue mentioned by Dave Richardson during the ICC's cricket committee meeting in May.

"The venue still needs to have decent lights, somewhere like Lord's, Sydney or Abu Dhabi. You also need to play it at a venue, and time of year, where dew isn't going to come in a seven o'clock," he said. "You can have the best ball in the world but it would be unfair in those conditions."

With the English season drawing to a close in mid-September dew could well be a factor that Glamorgan and Kent have to deal with so it will give an indication of the potential impact.