Sabina Park’s preparations for its first-ever day-night Test, which will take place next week during Australia’s ongoing Caribbean tour, are nearing completion. The installation of new floodlights was delayed numerous times, originally scheduled for early this year, then pushed back to May, and has only now been finished. However, during recent testing, a section in front of the Kingston Cricket Club stand was shown to be inadequately illuminated.
Despite these obstacles, the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) is convinced that the venue will be completed in time for the third Test on July 12. The final approval from the International Cricket Council (ICC) will be based on an inspection by officials who are expected to arrive a few days before the scheduled time for the forthcoming Day-Night encounter.
Meanwhile, India-funded upgrades to the scoreboard and replay screen have also been delayed. There was more work required after faults were discovered while demolishing the previous structure, which naturally took longer than anticipated.
“I’m pretty convinced about that [being prepared]. I’m a little concerned because I had hoped that everything would have been completed by now, but when you’re doing construction, there are a lot of unforeseen circumstances that come up that push you back, and that’s exactly what happened with the lights and the scoreboard,” JCA president Dr. Donovan Bennett told the Jamaica Observer, as quoted.
“But we’re on track, and I’m certain that we’ll be fine with both the lighting and the scoreboard by the 12th, when the games are planned. While certain aspects of the field exceed international standards, there is one area that requires improvement. The English, who supplied the lights, will arrive on the seventh [Monday] with a laser beam to complete the last fine-tuning,” Dr. Bennett explained.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) remains confident that the third Test at Sabina Park will go ahead as a Day-Night fixture.
The venue is also scheduled to host the first two T20 Internationals of the series under lights, post the conclusion of the Test series. This will mark only the second-ever day-night Test hosted in the Caribbean, the first being between West Indies and Sri Lanka in Barbados back in 2018.
Australia, meanwhile, have a strong record in day-night Tests, having won 12 out of 13 matches. Their only loss came against West Indies at the Gabba last year. With a pink-ball Test featured in every Australian home summer, they are by far the most experienced team in this format.
India
