Day-night Test 'unlikely' in 2019 Ashes, states England and Wales Cricket Board

Courtesy: Reuters

England will be unlikely to stage a day-night Ashes Test match when Australia tour in 2019, England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tom Harrison said on Wednesday.

Harrison said England did not need a pink-ball Test in their home Ashes schedule, although Australia has already staged four day-night Tests in recent years.

The two countries played the first day-night Test against each other in the second match of the current series at Adelaide Oval earlier this month.

A further two day-night Tests – against India and Sri Lanka – are likely to be staged in the 2018-2019 season.

"It`s to be decided, but it`s unlikely, to be honest," Harrison told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation during the fourth Ashes Test in Melbourne.

"I think we`ve got a format that works brilliantly well for us in Ashes cricket in the UK.

"Right time, right place, right conditions are the rules for day-night Test cricket. I think we`ll wait and see, but it`s unlikely I would say."

Cricket Australia counterpart James Sutherland said he was comfortable with the ECB`s decision, if it materialised.

"We`re obviously great advocates of it, we`ve seen the success of it here but Tom knows his conditions better," Sutherland said.