The England and Wales Cricket Board and Warwickshire CCC announced that Edgbaston will next summer host the first day-night Test to be staged in the UK.
Tickets for the historic First Investec Test Match between England and West Indies - scheduled from Thursday 17 to Monday 21 August - plus the full 2017 international programme will go on sale on Monday at 10am.
Subject to final confirmation with ICC, the hours of play will be 2pm to 9pm. Pink balls made by Dukes will be used and the players will wear traditional Test clothing.
With this, England are set to be the third Test-playing nation to host a Test under floodlights, following Australia’s Test against New Zealand in Adelaide last year and Pakistan set to host West Indies in a day-night Test in the UAE next week.
“We’re excited by the prospect of staging our first ever day-night Test Match," said ECB Chief Executive Officer Tom Harrison.
“It’s a great opportunity to attract more fans to the game and see how staging Test cricket in the afternoon and evening fits with working patterns and modern lifestyles, whilst maintaining the deep tradition of Test cricket.
“We think it can help attract different fans and families to Test cricket and the innovation will certainly put the five-day game under the spotlight in a very busy summer for the game.
“A number of Test nations are looking at day-night Tests as a way of building further interest in our most traditional format. We’re glad to be supporting that and adding to the understanding of how this might develop in different countries.
“Our partners can also see the clear opportunity and have been supportive as we build towards this big occasion next August.
“We would like to thank the West Indies Cricket Board and Warwickshire CCC in particular for their support. Edgbaston has a great tradition of staging Test cricket and we’re really looking forward to working with them on this innovation.”
Neil Snowball, Chief Executive of Warwickshire, added: “Bringing day-night Test cricket to England is an innovative and very exciting development for the game, and we’re thrilled that Edgbaston will be the first venue to host a match played in this format.
“Edgbaston staged the UK’s first day-night domestic match in 1997 and has a great history of hosting and selling out some of the biggest fixtures in the game. In turn, the Edgbaston atmosphere and match day experience has become iconic, with England having a fantastic record of victories here.
“Marking our 50th Test anniversary with a game of this magnitude will be a great occasion. We will be working very closely with our delivery partners and key stakeholders on our planning and operations to ensure that this first ever day-night Investec Test Match is a huge success.”
The announcement follows a successful pink ball trial match between Warwickshire and Worcestershire’s 2nd XIs at Edgbaston in August and previous use of a pink ball in the traditional county season curtain-raiser between MCC and the champion county.
As part of the preparations for the Test, it has also been agreed that Derbyshire’s tour match against West Indies (11-13 August) will be played under floodlights with a pink ball at the 3aaa County Ground, Derby.