HAMPSHIRE will play a day-night Specsavers County Championship match with a pink ball under the Ageas Bowl floodlights next season.

The county's four-day match against Somerset, which begins on Monday, June 26 will be one of eight day/night Championship matches across the country that week.

Essex, Warwickshire and Yorkshire will also host floodlit matches in division one, while Durham, Glamorgan, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Sussex will do so, also with pink Dukes balls, in division two.

A full round of floodlit four-day games breaks new ground for the County Championship, which has only featured one previous day/night match – a trial game between Kent and Glamorgan at Canterbury in 2011.

The move is designed to help broaden the audience for the four-day game and also give England players an opportunity to experience the conditions ahead of Edgbaston's hosting of this country’s first ever day/night Test Match between England and West Indies (Aug 17-21).

It means that ten of the 18 first-class counties will stage day/night fixtures with pink balls next summer, as West Indies will have their chance to prepare for the Investec Test Match at Edgbaston in a three-day match against Derbyshire from August 11-13.

“We were excited to announce a few weeks ago that Edgbaston will be staging an historic day/night Test, and it’s great that the counties, and the Specsavers County Championship, can also get involved,” said Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive officer.

“It was important for us to arrange a full round of fixtures to give our England players the chance to experience the conditions.

"But just as we wanted to assess the impact of making Test cricket more accessible by changing the hours of play, the counties have really embraced the potential of Championship matches that stretch well into the evening when people have finished school or work.

“The early indications from Edgbaston are that day-night Test cricket is proving very popular, and hopefully it will be the same for the Specsavers County Championship now the fixtures are confirmed.

There are some really attractive matches in the day/night round, and it will be fascinating to see how it works out.”

Hampshire could not have a more difficult start in the Championship as they play last season's top two in their first three games.

They play both their games against Yorkshire in April, starting at Headingley on the 7th, when the Tykes' formidable seam attack will be at its most dangerous, either side of their opening home game, against champions Middlesex.

Next season's Championship has been reduced to a 14-match competition, with the first division down to eight teams from nine.

The first six matches will start on a Friday to capitalise on weekends. The rest begin on a Monday (four), Tuesday (three) and a Sunday (one).

The new-look Natwest T20 Blast starts on July 7, when Hampshire are away to Glamorgan.

It is the latest-ever start to a domestic T20 campaign with the England and Wales Cricket Board hoping summer holiday fixtures will increase attendances and that a shorter more intense tournament will attract the best overseas players.

The 50-over Royal London One-Day Cup begins on April 27 with an away game at Kent, the competition having been brought forward to the spring – meaning all the group matches will be played before the ICC Champions Trophy in June.

The top three teams in each of the two nine-team groups will qualify for knockout stages in mid-June, with the final at Lord’s on Saturday July 1.