Headingley Cricket Ground, the home of The Yorkshire County Cricket Club, will soon be playing cricket late into the night with 56-metre floodlights ready to be erected in the four corners of the venue in time for the new season.
The floodlights, developed by lighting company Abacus Limited, have been created with a uniquely designed head frame - with a very special Yorkshire design.
Each head frame will be shaped to resemble the Yorkshire White Rose, an image that is synonymous across the county and a first in the world for any sporting floodlights.
David Ryder, operations director at Yorkshire County Cricket Club, said: “This design process started back in March 2014, when the idea was first established. We didn’t think such an intricate and uniquely-shaped head frame would be possible, but Abacus just looked at the challenge and took it on.
“The sight of these four white roses standing proud above the ground as a permanent light to shine on Headingley will be really symbolic.”
Four trenches have now been dug out around the concourse at Headingley, each measuring around 15ft by 10ft, filled with 80 tonnes of concrete to stabilise the installations in all weathers.
Each head frame is made up of 15 different separate components and once assembled, the structure of each floodlight stands at 11 metres, which will be attached to the 45-metre masts.
#YCCC reveals the look of Headingley's new floodlights thanks to @abacuslighting ready to be installed in March. https://t.co/no5DT2HBOZ
— Yorkshire CCC (@Yorkshireccc) February 20, 2015
The head frames will each be equipped with 108 Abacus Challenger 3 floodlights, each one weighing 20 kilograms, contributing heavily to each mast’s final weight of 26.5 tonnes.
Different lighting beams will be used on each head frame to ensure the light will only reach areas that are required and not reflect out towards residential and commercial areas surrounding the stadium complex.
The main aspects of the floodlights have been delivered and preparations are in place to raise the first shaft during the first week of March, with the unique head frame to be installed shortly afterwards.
The first scheduled match under the new lights will be Yorkshire Vikings' opening NatWest T20 Blast match of the season against Derbyshire Falcons on Friday May 15 (7.00pm start). Tickets are now available.