New Balls Please!

26/10/15

Pink ball manufacturer Kookaburra has hit back in response to recent criticism, insisting its innovation is Test standard and represents a "subtle" change for cricketers.

80 overs old pink ball

The inaugural day-night Test starts at Adelaide Oval on November 27, a million-dollar carrot having swayed Australia and New Zealand players to sign up.

Scepticism and criticism has been prevalent since, some of it coming from Cricket Australia's most high-profile employees.

Adam Voges and Peter Siddle were both frank after the recent Prime Minister's XI fixture, the former saying the ball was "more green than pink by the end".

Cricket Australia pointed to an abrasive Manuka Oval pitch as the cause for that consternation, expecting the ball to hold up better in this week's Sheffield Shield round.

Kookaburra managing director Brett Elliott suggested no cricket ball had gone through the level of testing and development that the pink ball has.

It is as close to the red ball as we could make it," Elliott said.

"Players have become very skilled at adapting to the different playing conditions around the world.

"In England, they have to get used to the different pitches and weather conditions and the Duke ball.

"In India they play in completely different conditions again and use an SG ball.

"The pink ball is probably the most insignificant or the most subtle change that they've had to deal with, because in essence it's just a replication of the red."

That certainly was not the case in Canberra.

"We're not reading too much into the condition of the ball during the Prime Minister's XI match," CA's head of cricket operations Sean Cary said.

"We know the Manuka wicket is very abrasive."

Test stars will have a chance to test the pink pill out in the day-night Sheffield Shield round that starts on Wednesday.

Games are being played in Adelaide, Melbourne and Hobart.

New skipper Steve Smith was predictably diplomatic on the weekend when asked about the change to cricket's oldest format.

"It's really exciting," Smith said.

However, a former Australia captain sitting outside CA's tent shared the sentiment.

"Test cricket is withering away in a lot of countries; Australia and England are the only two places where people watch Test matches," Steve Waugh told radio station Triple M.

"Day-night will bring people back to the game.

"We've got to get over the fact it might not be a perfect ball ... once we play one day-night Test people will be saying 'what were we worrying about?'."

AAP

As reported on the BBC

24/10/15

Australia's Adam Voges has questioned whether the pink ball set to be used in next month's first day-night Test match against New Zealand will last for the required 80 overs.

The batsman was unimpressed with the ball's performance in a 50-over day-night tour match in Canberra on Friday.

"There wasn't much pink left on it by the end of the game," said Voges.

"It stopped swinging, there was no reverse-swing, but the older it gets, I can't see it being any easier to see."

Voges made 55 in a 102-run defeat for the Prime Minister's XI against New Zealand.

"The first 10 overs were a real challenge but after that the ball stopped swinging," said Voges. "There was no reverse-swing or anything like that because both sides get chewed up equally."


Should an innings last for more than 80 overs in a Test match, a new ball can be taken by the bowling side.


Voges' complaints followed criticism of the pink ball from Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, who said it was hard to see for players fielding square of the wicket late in the day.


However, Cricket Australia has insisted the ball is ready for the day-night Test match which starts in Adelaide on 27 November.

22/10/15

A comment left on another post has asked for a discussion on the suggestion that an innovation to play day/night Test Matches wouldn't be a viable proposition even with the use of a different coloured ball.


The comment left predicted that the pink ball trial which has been running at one time in the second eleven championship in England as well as in certain games in the Sheffield Shield in Australia, would result in rejection of the pink balls.

Some preliminary results have suggested that the pink balls become practically invisible under lights after only slight wear. 

How long the pink balls retain their integrity with wear would need those with the data to make a statistical analysis of scorecards from games using the pink balls.

More regular changing of the balls wouldn't be an option in the case of Test Matches, in my opinion, as that would bring back too much advantage to the quick bowlers and wouldn't give comparable conditions of play to Tests using a traditional ball, however these are changing times.

White balls, as in ODIs, would have all the same issues as the pink balls with the added deviation from tradition with having to aid visibility with coloured kit as well.  After about 200 deliveries with a white ball, the ball has turned green and soft and not fit for purpose which would prompt a premature ball change, perhaps sooner than the pink ball.

Those at Lord's mentioned a hi-vis green ball as a possible option - show us the ball in action gentlemen.

So at the moment is the proposal of Day/Night Test doomed?

Discuss......