The Oval is staging the first official day-night match in this country, an AXA Life League game against Nottinghamshire re-scheduled from Sunday. Temporary floodlights, hired for £40,000, were being erected as rain fell steadily yesterday, and weather forecasters predict more of the same today.

The game, billed as the Lions versus the Outlaws, has cost £100,000 to put on. Surrey have sold 3,000 tickets in advance but were optimistic - given reliable weather - of attracting a crowd of more than 10,000.

Nick Cooke, Surrey's business development director, said: ``All our thoughts are being dominated by the weather and by the fact that the forecasts are not too hot. But we must just press on and hope that the rain clears away in time.

``The level of interest that there has been in this match proves, to me, that there is a market in England for floodlit cricket.''

The England and Wales Cricket Board are to involve grass-roots enthusiasts in the great debate over the future of the domestic game. County players and umpires have already been canvassed and the ECB are sending out 7,000 questionnaires over the next few days in an effort to sound out county members, the general public and leading club players and administrators.

The blueprint for the future of English cricket is to be presented by ECB chief executive Tim Lamb on Aug 5, when it will be revealed if it is intended to split the County Championship into two divisions and reduce the amount of one-day cricket.