LIGHTS, camera, action!
A new era in West Indies' cricket begins today.
Almost two decades after the game's first ever day/night match was contested, the Caribbean will finally flick the switch tonight.
The ultra-modern Beausejour Stadium, the state-of-the-art facility that was opened in 2002, is the venue for the first day/night international match in the region.
And, there is a sense of anticipation ahead of the fifth One-Day International between West Indies and Zimbabwe.
"The guys are looking forward to it. It is historic. It's going to be a wonderful occasion," West Indies captain Brian Lara said before an evening practice session yesterday.
"I hope that this takes off in the Caribbean, because we've never had it before. It's going to be something to look forward to."
224 floodlights
The first half of today's match will be played in daylight hours between 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. and the 224 floodlights on six pylons will be turned on during the 45-minute dinner break in preparation for the second segment of the match between 6:15 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.
While day/night matches are standard around the world, it has taken some time for them to get going in the West Indies. In the view of many, including Lara, it is long overdue.
"Yes, but it is here now. The past is the past. It's a situation of seeing how many grounds we can get with this sort of facility, so we can have a little bit more attraction for the game," Lara said.
"It's a big attraction around the world, having lights in Australia, India and these sort of places.
"In saying that, I don't think any ground in England has any permanent lights. At least we are ahead of them."
The lights, installed earlier this year, were first used in March for two limited-overs matches between West Indies 'A' and England 'A'.
The feedback was generally positive among those who played and those who watched.
West Indies had a big victory in the first match and England reversed the result in the second game in circumstances in which both winning teams batted first.
History has shown that teams batting second in day/night matches find it difficult. It remains to be sees what will unfold tonight.
"There is a saying that batting first during the day is what you are accustomed to and there is a changeover period when the lights come on, but it's not too dark yet," Lara said.
"That is the period where the team batting second has to deal with the dew factor. In places like Cape Town and Durban, the team batting second is severely affected by that. We don't know what is going to happen in the Caribbean yet.
"I suspect because of our tropical conditions there might be a possibility of having dew on the track."
MATCH DETAILS:
Venue: Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet
The teams (from, with shirt numbers):
WEST INDIES – 9-Brian Lara (captain), 45-Chris Gayle, 65-Sewnarine Chattergoon, 37-Runako Morton, 53-Ramnaresh Sarwan, 6-Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 52-Marlon Samuels, 47-Dwayne Bravo, 50-Dwayne Smith, 80-Denesh Ramdin, 32-Corey Collymore, 20-Fidel Edwards, 75-Jerome Taylor, 31-Dave Mohammed.
ZIMBABWE – 72-Terrance Duffin (captain), 5-Piet Rinke, 33-Justice Chibhabha, 1-Brendon Taylor, 46-Vusi Sibanda, 47-Elton Chigumbura, 74-Charles Coventry, 90-Blessing Mahwire, 53-Tawanda Mupariwa 52-Prosper Utseya, 23-Edward Rainsford, 12-Keith Dabengwa, 7-Ryan Higgins, 88-Anthony Ireland,11-Keagan Meth,13-Gregory Strydom.
Umpires: Billy Bowden (New Zealand), Billy Doctrove (Dominica). TV replays: Steve Bucknor (Jamaica).
Match referee: Chris Broad (England).
Playing times: 2 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.; 6:15 p.m. – close (schedule 9:45 p.m.)
* haydngill@nation news.com