Morgan sees day-night Tests on horizon

David Morgan, the outgoing ICC president, believes it "won't be too long" before day-night Tests are played in Australia or India. The ICC will meet at Lord's this week and Morgan will soon leave his post and be succeeded by India's Sharad Pawar.

The prospect of day-night Tests has been raised to increase crowds but the concept has been held back by problems with coloured balls lasting 80 overs. However, Morgan is convinced they will happen.

"I talked to administrators in Australia whom I expected to be so conservative as to be against day-night Test cricket but they are very much for it," he told AFP. "I believe it won't be too long before we see day-night Test cricket in Australia or India."

James Sutherland, Cricket Australia's chief executive, is leading the push for Tests under lights and there were trials held in 2nd XI games in 2009-10. However, the pink and orange balls don't last as long as the red ones, despite millions of dollars being spent on research.

Morgan said the biggest regret of his two-year term as president was Pakistan becoming a no-go area for international cricket following the terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore last year. "I feel sad for the people of Pakistan and for the cricketers in Pakistan," he said. "Pakistan has produced some of the most stylish cricketers in the last couple of decades - Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram.

"It's a country we need to continue to be producing fine cricketers, a bit like the Welsh [rugby union] outside-half factory. When these things cease to flow, the game is a great deal poorer."

The development of coloured balls for floodlit cricket will be one of the key topics on the agenda of the ICC Cricket Committee, along with the progress of the Umpire Decision Review System (DRS), the format of ODI cricket and the status of the switch hit/reverse sweep.

The Cricket Committee will be chaired by Clive Lloyd, with Gary Kirsten, the India coach, added to the board to replace Mickey Arthur as the Full Member team coach representative. There will also be a review of the Laws 2010 edition and the impact on standard playing conditions as well as reports from the Women's Cricket Committee and the Medical Committee.