SA-NZ day-night Test now unlikely

Wellington - New Zealand's hope of playing a day-night cricket test against South Africa in early 2017 has faded after the scrapping of a scheduled round of pink ball trial matches next month in New Zealand's domestic first-class competition.

The attempt to play a round of day-night matches in the four-day Plunket Shield competition was shelved Thursday because lighting at one of the stadiums - McLean Park in Napier - was inadequate for the pink ball.

New Zealand Cricket's head of cricket operations, Lindsay Crocker, told representatives of the first-class teams in a teleconference that the day-night test against South Africa was now unlikely to go ahead.

Crocker said "my gut is that (South Africa) might be a bit early for us."