Floodlit pink-ball cricket returns to the Specsavers County Championship next week, with Hampshire and Northamptonshire staging the first two of the nine matches that will again see each of the 18 counties playing a day-night fixture in 2018.
Whereas last season a full pink-ball round was held in late June ahead of England’s first home day-night Test against West Indies at Edgbaston, this summer the nine matches will be spread across four rounds of fixtures.
The bulk will start on Monday June 25: Essex v Somerset and Nottinghamshire v Worcestershire in Division One; and Derbyshire v Leicestershire, Durham v Warwickshire and Kent v Middlesex in Division Two.
That leaves one pink-ball game in late July – the Division Two fixture between Sussex and Glamorgan at the 1st Central County Ground in Hove; and one in late August, when Surrey host Lancashire at the Kia Oval.
But the pink-ball action starts next Wednesday (June 20), with Hampshire’s home game against Yorkshire, and Gloucestershire’s trip to Wantage Road.
Both Hampshire and Northants will be hosting a day-night Championship match for the second consecutive year, and Northants have taken the option of bringing forward the start of play to 1:30pm – meaning a scheduled close of 8:30pm – whereas Hampshire are sticking with a 2pm start.
One other significant difference this year is that whereas pink Dukes balls will again be used for the Division Two fixtures, pink Kookaburras will be used for the first time for the Division One games – starting at the Ageas Bowl.
Alan Fordham, the ECB’s Head of Cricket Operations, explained: “The view of the ECB Cricket Committee when the first round of day-night matches was reviewed last autumn was that as pink-ball cricket looks likely to continue at international level, it is important for us to continue to provide competitive experience of those different playing conditions for county players.
“This year we’ll be able to compare the performance of the pink Dukes in Division Two with the pink Kookaburras in the Division One fixtures.
“The spread of matches across a handful of rounds provides us with the opportunity to assess different conditions at different stages of the summer. We weren’t blessed with great weather for the pink-ball round in 2017, so hopefully with matches in June, July and August, we might even get some warm summer evenings for Championship cricket at some stage this year.”
Durham, Essex, Nottinghamshire and Sussex will join Hampshire and Northants in hosting a day-night Championship fixture for the second year running, while Derbyshire, Kent and Surrey will be staging their first – although Derbyshire did have floodlit first-class cricket at the 3aaa County Ground last summer as they hosted West Indies in a three-day match.
Hampshire chairman, Rod Bransgrove, added: "Floodlit pink ball fixtures are already a feature of Test match cricket in some countries and have been introduced here with the intention of enhancing the domestic programme.
"Hopefully, we'll see a good number of supporters coming along after work and cheering the team on while enjoying some competitive evening cricket."
Day-Night Specsavers County Championship matches
June 20-23: Hampshire v Yorkshire, Northamptonshire v Gloucestershire
June 25-28: Derbyshire v Leicestershire, Durham v Warwickshire, Essex v Somerset, Kent v Middlesex, Nottinghamshire v Worcestershire.
July 22-25: Sussex v Glamorgan
August 19-22: Surrey v Lancashire