Monday 19 October 2015 15:20, UK
Test captains have rejected a proposal to play tight matches to a finish under floodlights.
The ICC consulted teams to check if there was a will to circumvent established playing conditions and continue playing in worsening light when a result is imminent.
The proposal would have prevented England's frustration in Abu Dhabi at the end of the first Test against Pakistan, when play was ended with the tourists needing only another 25 runs in eight scheduled overs.
But ICC chief executive Dave Richardson has revealed Test captains across the board, such as England's Alastair Cook, were not in favour of the idea on the grounds that it could bring "unjust" conclusions.
"We have attempted in the past to say to the players 'Look, if you've got floodlights and they're good enough to use for Test cricket, we should just bite the bullet - and even if conditions aren't as good as they might be normally, we should play on and just finish the day's play or the match'," he said.
"However, that approach wasn't accepted by any of the teams really. They felt that would be unfair, and could lead to unjust finishes. So it's a problem we're still faced with."
Cook queried the decision to abandon play at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Saturday evening, questioning whether, with the floodlights on but the desert dusk gathering, conditions were "unfair" or "unsafe" for either team.
But Richardson added: "It was the captains on behalf of the players.
"Some of the floodlights around the world don't add enough additional light to make it really worth a huge improvement with a red ball - so they said 'no, no, leave it in the hands of the umpires and let them decide'."
Meanwhile, Richardson clarified reports that the ICC had decided "greeny-yellow" as the best colour for balls in day-night Test cricket.
A pink ball is to be used in next month's Test between Australia and New Zealand in Adelaide but Richardson said a final colour has not been decided.
He said: "I was just talking about a different-coloured ball, and said 'pink, yellow, green, whatever' ... nothing specific but more with the principle of trying to develop a different-coloured ball that you can see in day-night conditions or under floodlights - and one that lasts the pace.
"It's something that is unfortunate - we're trying to look for a solution, and frankly we're not quite there."
