A 9am start would be impossible for 99% of games played in England as well, for exactly the same reason. Day-nighters need to be closely reviewed. They work all right in some climates, though undoubtedly they also present uneven playing conditions for the teams. But I'd be prepared to live with the uneven conditions in order to enjoy an evening under the lights in 28C temperatures as I did in Cape Town a couple of times in 2000. I would not be prepared to tolerate it in a cold late evening in England, however - and in that country day-nighters really should be given the heave-ho in my opinion. That said, they do pull in the crowds in a way that day-time matches can't hope to do: I think we're stuck with them, whether we like them (as I do in South Africa) or not (as I don't for England).

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Money won't buy you friends. But it gets you a better class of enemy.
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Okay OF! I think the only reason you like Newlands so much is because of a certain Mr Jimmy Anderson making a mockery of the Pakistani batting line-up one sultry evening in 2000.. Or is it us bikini-clad lasses on the grass embankments???

Day-nighters work well up north and inland. But I think we should give them a skip in the Cape and in Durban. (tide coming in and all...)

I did say "where possible" and this would be in the subcontinent. As for England, it is immaterial because of the very long daylight hours during the normal cricket season.

Newlands is just a great place to watch cricket! The bikini-clad lasses on the beach sure help though

Ah, well ... actually it's just that Newlands is about as attractive a ground as I've seen anywhere! I maybe got the year wrong, but I was sure it was January 2000, when I saw England get beaten by South Africa one night by a run and by Zimbabwe two nights later by a country mile (104 runs, I think). I've never seen Pakistan play anywhere, so you have the wrong incident! Bikini clad lasses ... could have been some, I guess!

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Money won't buy you friends. But it gets you a better class of enemy.
Spike Milligan

Naaa...I was way out with the year too...That match in question was during the WC in SA in 2003 . I dont think England was in SA in 2000 either. But I could be wrong. Since my 30th birth day I get dates wrong all the time

Sorry to hear about the memory problems, Wanderer - they get worse as you approach my age, I promise. But in fact England certainly was in SA in 1999/2000 - the first test match of the millenium was at Cape Town on 2 January 2000. I couldn't get to that, but the two Newlands day-nighters I mentioned were at the back end of January 2000. (And yes, I did have to check my passport to prove it!)

__________________
Money won't buy you friends. But it gets you a better class of enemy.
Spike Milligan

I think we should experiment four innings of 25 overs each and play a mini test match in one day, call it Q25.

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Had cricket been a religion, Imran Khan would've been the god.