Cricket News: Brighter future seen for night matches (22 June 1997)

Saturday 21 June 1997

Cricket News: Brighter future seen for night matches

MOHAN Kripalani has a vision: that of floodlights blazing down on Old Trafford for the World Cup semi-final in June 1999.

Kripalani, a chartered accountant, is so convinced that daynight cricket is the way forward that he has formed a company, Day Night Promotions, to turn the dream into reality.

He had initially hoped to stage a floodlit match between his native India and an England XI at Old Trafford this season, but when they fell foul of practicalities a game between Lancashire and Yorkshire on July 21 was arranged instead.

It is one of three matches this summer which could either establish day-night cricket as a significant player in this country or, just as likely, prove that the English climate is too fickle a business partner.

Surrey set the ball rolling with their Sunday League match against Nottinghamshire at the Oval on Thursday, aka the Lions v the Outlaws. They have already sold about 2,500 tickets and as long as the optimsitic weather forecast is correct they are confident of attracting a crowd of between 8,000 and 10,000.

The pioneering baton then passes to Old Trafford and, two days later, to Edgbaston where Warwickshire take on Somerset in another Sunday League match. The investment is considerable - Kripalani esti- mates that it can cost between -L30,000 and -L60,000 to install temporary floodlighting - but he believes that the returns could be greater still.

ENGLAND have been jet-lagging behind in the air miles department, according to a novel survey in the latest issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly which puts them bottom of the Frequent Flyer Table.

It reveals that they have clocked up a paltry 28,315 miles since August last year, more than 40,000 adrift of Australia, kings of the long haul.

This could all change: if, for instance, a Test championship goes ahead, in which England travel to every other Test-playing country in the course of a calendar year, they could expect to cover well over 100,000 miles.

VILLAGE teams in North Yorkshire found it impossible to beat each other but they did manage to beat the odds in a spectacular way with an extraordinary double.

Hampsthwaite`s first team finished level in their Nidderdale league game at Studley Royal when their last man, the nonstriker, was run out off the final ball of the 44th over. Both teams made 145.

The Hampsthwaite players returned to the club to discover that the Second XI had been involved in a carbon-copy affair against Bagby and Balk, right down to the totals and concluding run-out.

SIR Donald Bradman made an appearance at Lord`s last night - in the shape of a portrait which was unveiled by MCC president Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie.

Bradman`s Walk to Glory, taken from a contemporary photograph, depicts him striding out to bat at Melbourne in 1937 with, interestingly, a large group of female admirers huddled behind the boundary railings.

The portrait, by the English artist Colin Dudley, will also be on show in Bombay next week before heading back to Adelaide. A number of bids in the region of -L500,000 have been tabled and 99 limited-edi- tion prints are being sold for -L9,000 apiece. Proceeds are going to the Bradman Museum Trust and the Wheelchair Sports Foundation.

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