Cook feels as if the floodlights can be used in overcast conditions to allow play to continue for the day

England opener Alastair Cook believes the way the floodlights were used in the first Test against the West Indies is a prime example why it can benefit Test cricket all over the world.

For a while now, the floodlights have been available for use during conventional hours of play in order to help batsman with the fading light conditions.

However, before the floodlights can be used during matches, both cricket boards have to agree on the use of it, but even if the lights are available, the batsmen may still choose to walk off the pitch due to difficulties with seeing the red ball.

During the first Test between England and the West Indies, the lights were on at Lord’s for a majority of the time, especially on the fourth day, and it also played a huge part in helping England win the match by five wickets.

“We wouldn’t have won that game without the lights, I think that fourth day was a prime example of why lights should be used in Test cricket,” Cook said.

“There’s a good case for using them now. I don’t think we’d have got much play (on day four), certainly not the 80 or 90-odd overs we got. It probably would’ve been hard to get a result because we wouldn’t have got more than 30 or 40 overs in,” he added.

But, there have been concerns over the difficulty to play when the natural light fades, and floodlights are not in full effect yet.

“There are occasions when it works to your disadvantage, like when it was pretty dark in the last 15-20 minutes when we had to go and face it, but we were saying in the dressing room that if those lights weren’t on we probably wouldn’t have played much that day. I think for the crowd and the entertainment value we’ve got to try and get as much play as we can. It will work in your favour one day and on others you’ll have to go and face four overs in not ideal conditions, but hopefully we’ll benefit from that at some stage as well. I thought it was good for the game,” Cook also said.

Problems about the natural light usually affect the batting side on most occasions, but West Indian wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin believes that his side were finding it difficult to field in the conditions.

“It was a bit challenging, sometimes in the background it was hard to pick the ball up,” Ramdin said of his Lord’s experience. “It’s something to think about in future if it has to go on that late,” he said.