First D/N Test in England a step forward, says Neil Snowball

Warwickshire‘s Chief Executive Neil Snowball termed the first Day-Night in England at Edgbaston a ‘huge success’. The match was played between hosts England and the West Indies which saw Joe Root and his men crush the visitors in a sheer display of dominance. The stadium witnessed an enormous gathering of fans as the number stood just short of 70,000 over the three days. A massive 23.922 was the attendance on Friday which is the highest for a non-Ashes encounter since 2001.

Snowball spoke to Cricbuzz about the same. According to the Cheif Executive, the successful hosting of the Test match in England was a gigantic success and a step forward towards the development of the sport. However, he claimed that it would have been even better if the match went on for the full 5 days.

What Snowball said:

“We are really pleased,” Snowball told Cricbuzz. “For the club and city, it was a huge success. It was a shame it didn’t go into the fourth day but we did very well on the three days. As a first effort at a day-night Test in England, it couldn’t have gone much better.”

Warwickshire had worked very hard to equip themselves for the match. Lights were put on in the net areas and shuttle buses were arranged for the spectators.

“The feedback we have had from the fans and our members is that they had a fantastic time and it was great fun. Operationally we were very happy with how it went.” added Snowball.

The only thing that bothered Snowball is the fact that the crowd started to leave the stadium in the final hour of the first day’s play. Snowball stated that the reason behind the same was that people had work the next morning as it was a Thursday. “That’s surprised us,” Snowball admitted. “All day, the bit that everyone was excited about was the final hour with the new ball under the lights. Whether it’s because it was a Thursday, people had work the next day. Pretty much as soon as it reached 9 PM, people started to drift away.” he said.

“Having said that, it does get a bit cold in the evening but Saturday night when you had Broad’s record-breaking wicket and Roland-Jones finishing it off in front of a full crowd under the lights, I think we’ll remember that for a long time.” Snowball added.