James Sutherland's flagging of a potential Ashes day-night Test has surprised the players' union.
Cricket Australia (CA) remains in negotiations with both Pakistan and South Africa counterparts regarding the 2016-17 schedule, keen to lock in a pair of pink-ball fixtures.
England tour Australia the following year.
CA chief executive Sutherland on Monday floated the prospect of there being at least one day-night fixture in that much-anticipated Test series.
"It is certainly on the radar. We haven't had any formal conversations with the ECB," Sutherland told ABC Radio.
"It seems like it would be an natural progression for there to be an Ashes day-night Test match in 2017-18."
There had been no previous public suggestion from CA that the iconic series could be played with anything but a red Kookaburra.
It was also news to the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA).
"This is certainly the first we have heard that an Ashes Test match would be considered as a prospect for day-night fixture," ACA boss Alistair Nicholson said.
"We understood that day-night Tests were to potentially bring new audiences to matches that typically wouldn't attract significant crowd numbers.
"But traditionally Ashes Test matches don't fall in to that category."
Nicholson noted the inaugural day-night Test at Adelaide Oval was a great success from a commercial perspective.
"But there are still some significant operational elements that simply haven't been resolved," he said.
"Such as maintaining a pink ball up to Test match standard on a pitch that doesn't have to be specifically prepared to be less abrasive.
"We'll watch with interest the upcoming round of (day-night) Shield matches where these issues will hopefully move a step closer to being improved.
"We'll continue to take feedback from the players regarding the practicalities of extending the amount of day-night Test matches."
Kookaburra is still tweaking its pink ball, with Australia and New Zealand players both having struggled to pick up the green seam in Adelaide.
Peter Siddle, the most experienced member of the current Australia squad with 59 Tests, detailed his concerns about the concept last month.
"It was obviously an exciting venture and I think it was well received," Siddle told AAP.
"But from a cricket point of view it still does need a bit of work.
"There's still got to be a lot changed before - if we go about having two games (in 2016-17), three games or whatever they might think of in the future."
Siddle feared that post-dinner sessions will shape contests too much.
"You just don't want the toss of the coin dictating too much," Siddle said.
"You saw the loss of wickets at night and how hard it was to bat.
"It can sort of take away one side's chances of winning."
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) operations manager Zakir Khan attended the inaugural day-night Test in Adelaide.
The PCB will use a pink ball in the upcoming final of its first-class tournament, a sign of how much it supports the concept.
However, Misbah-ul-Haq expressed disquiet prior to that game.
"It was difficult to take high catches and hard to pick the flight deliveries during practice," he told Aaj News.
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