WI vs AUS 2025: Floodlight delays challenge Sabina Park ahead of pink ball debut

The preparations at Sabina Park for its first-ever day-night Test, set to take place next week during Australia’s ongoing tour of the Caribbean, are coming down to the wire. The installation of new floodlights faced multiple delays, initially expected to be completed early this year, then postponed to May, but has only recently been erected. However, during recent testing times, one area in front of the Kingston Cricket Club stand was found to be insufficiently lit.

Despite these setbacks, the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) remains confident that the venue will be ready in time for the third Test starting on July 12. The final approval from the International Cricket Council (ICC) will depend on an inspection by officials who are supposed to arrive a few days before the scheduled time for the upcoming Day-Night fixture.

Meanwhile, the upgrade of the scoreboard and replay screen, funded by India, has also encountered delays. There was additional work required after issues were discovered upon removing the old structure, which naturally took longer than actually expected.

"I'm pretty sure about that [being ready]. I'm a little bit uneasy because I would have hoped that everything would have been completed by now but when you're doing construction, as you go along there are a lot of unforeseen circumstances that you're challenged with which will push you back and that's exactly what has happened with the lights and the scoreboard,” JCA president Dr. Donovan Bennett told the Jamaica Observer as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

"But we're on target, I'm confident that we'll be okay with both the lighting and the scoreboard for the 12th, when the games are scheduled, I'm sure we'll be okay. Certain areas of the field are way above the international requirements but there's one area that we need to work on to get it up…the English, who supplied the lights, will be coming in on the seventh [Monday] with a laser beam to do the final fine-tuning," Dr. Bennett added.

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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.