County Championship to stage full round of day/night fixtures in 2017
An historic full round of day/night County Championship fixtures will be staged during the 2017 domestic season in a bid to broaden the appeal of the four-day game in England.
Nine matches matches, to be hosted by Essex, Hampshire, Warwickshire and Yorkshire in Division One and Durham, Glamorgan, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Sussex in the second tier, will start on Monday 26 June and feature a pink Dukes ball.
The games will act as a prelude to the first ever day/night Test match to be staged in this country between England and the West Indies, which is set to start on Thursday 17 August.
“It was important for is to arrange a full round of fixtures to give our England players the chance to experience the conditions,” said England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tom Harrison.
“But just as we wanted to assess the impact of making Test cricket more accessible by changing the hours of play, the counties have really embraced the potential of Championship matches that stretch well into the evening.”
The County Championship has only ever featured one previous day/night match and that was a trial game between Kent and Glamorgan in 2011.