Peter Deeley: Lighting the way to bright future (25 July 1997)

Friday 25 July 1997

Lighting the way to bright future

By Peter Deeley

FLOODLIT one-day games may become a permanent part of cricket`s future following the runaway success of Warwickshire`s trend-setter at Edgbaston.

Tim Lamb, chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, told Dennis Amiss, his opposite number at Edg- baston, yesterday that the board`s marketing department would be considering the proposition.

"I see no reason why there shouldn`t be more floodlit matches next season if this is what the counties want," Lamb said.

More than 15,000 turned up for the AXA Life League game against Somerset which finished 23 minutes before midnight with 8,000 paying -L60,000 at the gate - twice the size of Warwickshire`s previous biggest Sunday crowd and only 4,000 below a full house.

Amiss could well say: "I have seen the future and it pays." With all 40 corporate hospitality boxes full to over- flowing, he estimates that Warwickshire earned around -L120,000 from the game.

After deducting costs of -L50,000, including -L35,000 for the lights, the night`s -L70,000 profit is nearly double the -L40,000 taken in gate money all last year.

No wonder Amiss was talking about a future in which Test matches could be played under lights to make up time lost, with even a spin-off for the champ ionship.

"No one comes to watch four-day cricket any more," he said. "I don`t see why we can`t think about championship games in July and August starting in the afternoon and going on into the evening to draw people in."

Warwickshire are now to consider the feasibility of installing permanent lighting at a cost of at least -L500,000, though Amiss says: "We do have other major development plans on the books."

The club are also debating whether to ask the ECB for permission to stage next summer`s one-day international against South Africa under floodlights as a precursor to the 1999 World Cup semi-final to be staged at their ground.

The game itself was almost incidental to the occasion, but Warwickshire went back to the top of the Sunday league table on run-rate after beating Somerset by 35 runs.

Surrey`s historic first game against Notts last month was washed out and Lancashire met Yorkshire at the beginning of this week in a friendly under floodlights at Old Trafford. Sussex are due to play Surrey in an AXA Life League game under lights at Hove on Wednesday, Aug 27.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/)