"Playing a day-night match is a fundamental change to the itinerary": AB de Villiers. Photo: Getty Images

CA announce summer schedule with asterisk next to Adelaide Test

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South Africa cricket captain AB de Villiers has become the latest to voice his concerns about a potential Adelaide Test day-nighter, suggesting even some Australian players have reservations.

De Villiers said there were too many "unknowns" and suggested he and other Proteas walked away from a meeting with Australia skipper Steve Smith and other players unconvinced about the day-night format.

"At the moment, we are not too keen on playing in the proposed day-night Test match due to a few concerns that have come from a number of sources involved in the maiden Test played last year," he told Independent Media.

"We had a meeting with Steve Smith and some of the Australian players when they toured here earlier this year, and the consensus from our talks were that there are just too many unknowns. Players from both teams were reluctant to go ahead with it.

"South Africa and Australia have a great cricketing rivalry, and this is a series that we value. We could well be playing for an opportunity to regain the No.1 Test ranking, so playing a day-night match is a fundamental change to the itinerary."

New Zealand expressed similar concerns before the first day-night Test played in Australia, but decided to play when Cricket Australia offered a $1 million prize-pool - with a 60-40 split between the winners and losers.

It hasn't gone unnoticed in South Africa that the match was wrapped up in three days after Australia's pace men dominated.

Adelaide is traditionally a batsman's paradise, and the Test normally goes for five days. Many players believe the day-night conditions - and pink ball - altered the outcome.

"The pink ball has had some issues with how it responds to 80 overs of Test cricket and that is one of the key issues that we feel plays a big role in the success of the day-night Test," said De Villiers.

"The pitch also had to be 'doctored' to minimise the abrasive wear and tear to the pink ball, which seems to happen quicker than the red ball, and this is also an area we feel is a big factor in the run of play."

Proteas fast bowler Dale Steyn was more positive about the concept but admits there are misgivings about the deciding Test match of the series being a day-night affair.

"I don't want to go through my whole career without playing a day-night game," Steyn told cricket.com.au. "How cool are they? I thought it looked awesome when New Zealand and Australia played one. It looked entertaining, there was a big crowd.

"Right now I'm leaving it to CSA and for them to make a decision, but to be honest with you I'd love to play one.

"The difficult part of it comes in if it's 1-1 and we go into a decider and we play a Test match we've never really played before, we've never used the pink ball before. That could be a little bit of an issue for the guys. Australia, having played one before and having played a few first-class games, would have the upper hand on us in that sense. We're not moaning about it, it would just not be a level playing field."

South Africa's Players Association Chief Executive Tony Irish also expressed his dissatisfaction: "The main reason is we feel disadvantaged is that not one of our players who will compete in that Test has played Test match cricket, or any cricket, with a pink ball," he said.

Australia's players used the pink ball before the Kiwi Test in Sheffield Shield matches. South Africa has only used it in a Twenty20 competition for semi-professional cricketers - but it was replaced by the white ball when players complained about the visibility.

While it's understood CA has offered the Proteas a warm-up game under lights, De Villiers said he doesn't believe this will get his team up to speed in time.

"I don't think it [warm-up game] will," he said. "I don't think it's something that you acclimatise to in one match and the intensity of an international cricket match also brings in other factors which are hard to replicate in a warm-up match.

"In the Africa T20 Cup the pink ball provided huge problems for fielders who had trouble tracking it on the ground and often ended up running in the wrong direction."

2016-17 Schedule

AUSTRALIA VS SOUTH AFRICA TEST SERIES

Nov 3-7, Perth

Nov 12-16, Hobart

Nov 24-28, Adelaide*

AUSTRALIA VS NEW ZEALAND ONE-DAY SERIES

Dec 4, Sydney

Dec 6, Canberra

Dec 9, Melbourne

AUSTRALIA VS PAKISTAN TEST SERIES

Dec 15-19, Brisbane (D/N)

Dec 26-30, Melbourne