ECB Confirms First Full Day/night Domestic Round
The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced the full domestic fixture programme for 2017 which will include a first full round of nine day/night matches in the Specsavers County Championship next June.
The day/night matches – hosted by Essex, Hampshire, Warwickshire and Yorkshire in Division One, and Durham, Glamorgan, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Sussex in Division Two – will all start on Monday 26th June, and be played with pink Dukes balls.
The announcement of a full round of floodlit four-day games breaks new ground for the County Championship, which has only featured one previous day/night, which was a trial game.
The ECB stated the move is designed to help broaden the audience for the four-day game and also give England players an opportunity to experience the conditions ahead of Edgbaston hosting the country’s first ever day/night Test match between England and West Indies next August.
The Specsavers County Championship season begins on 7th April with three matches in each division with an increase in the amount of weekend Championship cricket in 2017.
The Royal London One-Day Cup gets underway on 27th April, with the competition having been brought forward to the spring – meaning all the group matches will be played before the ICC Champions Trophy in June.
The top three teams in each of the two nine-team groups will qualify for knockout stages in mid-June, with the final at Lord’s on Saturday 1st July.
The NatWest T20 Blast will begin on Friday, 7th July, with an emphasis on the competition, meaning the teams will play their 14 qualifying matches in a concentrated period in high summer rather than spread over three months as previously.
On the day/night matches, Tom Harrison, ECB, chief executive officer said: “We were excited to announce a few weeks ago that Edgbaston will be staging an historic day/night Test, and it’s great that the counties, and the Specsavers County Championship, can also get involved”
“The early indications from Edgbaston are that day/night Test cricket is proving very popular, and hopefully it will be the same for the Specsavers County Championship now the fixtures are confirmed. There are some really attractive matches in the day/night round, and it will be fascinating to see how it works out.”
“We are gearing up for a long, busy and exciting summer,” added Harrison. “We have two ICC world events with the Champions Trophy in June and the Women’s World Cup in July, and now county cricket will have a different rhythm.
“The Royal London One-Day Cup’s position earlier in the season means a Lord’s final in July rather than mid-September, and the NatWest T20 Blast will also have a very different feel, being played in a block of matches during the school holiday months of July and August.
“With eight teams in Division One and 10 in Division Two under the new structure of the Specsavers County Championship, and the Kia Super League returning for a second season after such a promising debut in 2016, there is so much to look forward to.”
Image: ©Getty Images
