Stafford was sacked eight times in two losses to the Vikings la

England will play their first day-night Test match at home next year, the ECB has confirmed. The first Test of West Indies tour, at Edgbaston on August 17-21, will be contested under lights with a pink ball in a move designed to try and increase attendances and drive interest in the oldest form of the game.Tom Harrison, the ECBs chief executive, said it was worth experimenting in order to try and make cricket more accessible to new audiences. So far, the only Test played under lights with a pink ball was between Australia and New Zealand at Adelaide last November, although a second, between Pakistan and West Indies in the UAE, will take place this month. Another two are scheduled for the forthcoming Australian summer.Its a great opportunity to build on a lot of the thinking and the strategy that has been going on for the last 12 months, Harrison said. Its been all about new audiences and doing all we could to make the game more accessible at every level, and this gives us an opportunity to find out if Test cricket played at a different time of day, under certain conditions, in a city centre at a time of year where people possibly dont get to go to the all day game - well see if that has a dramatic impact on attendance.Its also outside London, so theres more opportunity to see an impact of day-night cricket. England historically love playing at Edgbaston, its a great venue. We are taking an open and hopeful view and are expectant that it will have an impact on our market as we look to make cricket more accessible to new audiences.Harrison added it was important to embrace opportunities when they come. Warwickshire held a trial in a 2nd XI game in August, which was deemed a success despite some issues with the deterioration of the pink ball (both Dukes and Kookaburra varieties). The club were unable to hold further tests in a first-class match but, with tickets due to go on sale next week, they have agreed to take the plunge for next summer.Bringing day-night Test cricket to England is an innovative and very exciting development for the game, and were thrilled that Edgbaston will be the first venue to host a match played in this format, Neil Snowball, Warwickshires chief executive, said.Edgbaston staged the UKs first day-night domestic match in 1997 and has a great history of hosting and selling out some of the biggest fixtures in the game. In turn, the Edgbaston atmosphere and match-day experience has become iconic, with England having a fantastic record of victories here.Playing hours for the Test have been provisionally scheduled from 2pm until 9pm, with the final session set to take place under floodlights as the sun goes down. Dukes will continue to supply the ball; those used in the 2nd XI match at Edgbaston, in contrast to the Kookaburra version, featured a dark seam.Im sure it will drive some new thinking in the way that tickets are sold and Im sure it will have an impact on the ability of families to come and watch cricket, Harrison said. Its a sincere drive and strategy to make cricket as accessible as possible, particularly for young people. To create a Test cricket audience among young people.Cricket Australia has been the board most enthusiastic about day-night Tests and it is likely that the 2017-18 Ashes could feature a pink-ball game - although the current captains, Alastair Cook and Steven Smith, have expressed reservations. Its useful to have one before we go to Australia, Harrison said. Giving guys the chance to play with a pink ball under lights, before an Ashes Test in similar conditions. Its a good opportunity to stick a stake in the ground to say we are keen to innovate.Player concerns about the conditions required to keep the pink ball from deteriorating were a feature of the Adelaide Test, where an unusually grassy surface was prepared and the match was over inside three days. Harrison said the ECB was comfortable with the development of the ball, which has been tested extensively by the MCC - who first proposed the idea - notably in the Champion County match at the start of the English season.He added that the England and West Indies players had been assured they will be given opportunities to prepare for playing under lights. West Indies third three-day tour match, which takes place in Derby the week before the first Test, will be played as a day-night match.Players have taken some time to get around this, Harrison said. Its not a new concept in terms of global international cricket and many boards are looking at ways to introduce this and as they have gone down this journey they have looked at all the things that need to come together, like lux levels at grounds, local council approval, public transport. They are all different in the day-night scenario. There is a bit more work to do, but we can start to get excited.Im sure we will convert those who are less than convinced about it. We will work hard to make sure we are not treading on traditions here. In London we put a Test match on and it sells out. Outside London its not as simple as that. Maybe this helps bring in some of those new communities that havent been to Edgbaston before. 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Three weeks ago, the Minnesota Vikings were unbeaten and appeared to be the class of the NFC.Minnesota hosts the Detroit Lions on Sunday looking to just stay on top of the NFC North, and will do so with a new offensive coordinator.The past two weeks, in which the Vikings (5-2) scored 20 total points and averaged 270 yards of offense in two losses, has taken the shine off Minnesota coach Mike Zimmers Super Bowl-hopeful bunch.As the Vikings were getting set to prepare for Detroit (4-4), Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner resigned on Monday. Zimmer said he was very, very surprised by the move.He has helped me tremendously in the three years that Ive been here, Zimmer said. He has had an unbelievable career. He has been, really, my right-hand man, really, since Ive been here, and he decided it was in the best interest of him to do this, and I accept the reasons; and they are personal.Behind a faltering offensive line, the Vikings have the leagues second-worst offense. Minnesota is 31st in the NFL in average yards per game (293.3) and yards per play (4.6). The offense has averaged 19.9 points per game, tied for 23rd in the league.Tight ends coach Pat Shurmur is the interim offensive coordinator and will call the plays. Shurmur does have experience with quarterback Sam Bradford, who came to the Vikings in a trade right before the regular season began. Shurmur was the offensive coordinator and interim head coach in Philadelphia last year with Bradford, and the two were together in St. Louis as well.I think hes a great football mind, Bradford said. Really just looking forward to sitting down and talking to him and trying to figure out the direction in which were going to go...Halfway through the season, Im not really sure if you can completely change an offense and the terminology for everyone.Offense hadnt been a concern for the Lions, at least until Sundays loss at Houston. Detroit had 289 yards of offense, its second-lowest output of the season in a 20-13 loss. The 13 points were a season low even as the Lions welcomed back tight end Eric Ebron and running back Theo Riddick.Ebron returned after missing three games with ankle and kneee injuries and had seven catches for a team-high 79 yards receiving.dddddddddddd. Riddick had missed two games with an ankle injury and had 56 yards rushing and 77 yards receiving with a touchdown against Houston.We just hurt ourselves, Ebron told the teams website. Penalties, we just hurt ourselves. Every game weve lost, weve hurt ourselves. So, weve got to, just got to clean up our act and win.Protecting Matthew Stafford will be an important factor against Minnesotas second-ranked defense. Stafford was sacked eight times in two losses to the Vikings last season.Thats what theyre known for, its what theyre really good at, Stafford told the teams website of the Vikings blitz packages. The last two times we played these guys we were a little different schematically than we are now.Well be able to take a look at them this week, study them hard and work to try and find solutions that will fit us.Detroit will also need to bring the pressure against Bradford, who has been sacked 11 times the past two weeks.Its something that I would like to see go down, Bradford said of the number of times he has been hit. I dont think its a positive thing. I dont think its a good thing. I think weve got to figure out a way to bring that number down.The Lions made one change, as well, trying to help their 23rd-ranked defense by acquiring cornerback Johnthan Banks from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Banks was a college teammate of Detroit cornerback Darius Slay at Mississippi State and the two were second-round draft picks in 2013.Banks will try to resurrect his career in a new spot.Meanwhile, Minnesota is trying to prove its season isnt slipping away.I do think that we hit a rough spot in the season and we need to get back on track, Zimmer said. So, unfortunately this is just some of the things that go on over the course of a season. Obviously, the season is a long time and not everything is going to go smooth, as Ive found out over the three years. So, well just keep trying to do the things we have to do to continue to get better. ' ' '