Pros and Cons of the Pink Ball and Day Night Test Cricket
Day Night cricket made a debut as Test No. 2190 between Australia and New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval was played under lights. It was a big day in the history of Test cricket which hasn’t changed much in more than a century and has stuck to its traditional roots.
In just one game, two major decisions were taken. Apart from the use of lights, the match was also the first time a pink ball was used as opposed to the normal red cherry. The players were encouraged with a million dollar purse for this particular game.
There were plenty of risks to start with – from low visibility to unpredictability of the pink ball, whose behaviour under match conditions was unknown. But as it turned out, it was an exciting contest. Yes, the ball did move viciously in the cool evening aided by grass on the pitch. The game got over in less than three days. But, no one complained after the kind of entertainment that the see-saw match provided.
Pros of pink ball Day Night cricket
The pink ball Day Night cricket might offer Test cricket a new lease of life. Crowds have dwindled everywhere except in England for Test match cricket, considering it is now mostly a broadcasting property. However, a combined audience of 120,000 for three days of Day-Night Test, novelty of the game and the history it created notwithstanding, indicates that Tests could garner popularity yet again.
Day Night cricket allows more cricket followers to follow the game watching it live after a hard day’s toil. It extracts the same advantage that made T20 cricket so popular with the masses getting full houses all around the world. It is the convenient timing that will pull ardent cricket followers, with the love for watching an intensely contested Test, to the stadium.
Pink balls used in the Test match weathered the wear and tear well and unlike what was feared, didn’t need to be changed at all. That is certainly a big step in the right direction considering that the white ball cannot be used in Test cricket yet, for the movement and swing they offer and the digression from Test cricket’s traditional requirements.
Day Night matches are most importantly, aesthetically pleasing. Watching the players dressed in white playing a Test under lights on the lush green Adelaide Oval was a sight for the gods. There is something exciting about cricket under the lights. A Test match under lights offers a best-of-both-worlds scenario.
Greater crowds for Test cricket can make a genuine case for a Test Championship as well, which hasn’t been organised in spite of growing clamour for it. It is a great way of finding out which is the best Test team in the world, without depending on the ICC ranking which might not offer the best insight on the performances of a team, home and away.
One of the biggest advantages of Day Night cricket is the extra time and hence, opportunity it provides to make up for lost time in case of rain or any other disturbance during play.
Cons of pink ball Day Night cricket
In the Day Night Test, New Zealand scored 202 and 208. Australia eventually won by just three wickets. The match was over in three days. Day Night cricket is exciting but the ball could be affected by dew on the field which is a problem in the night time. It can also have greater zip when it is cool, altering the playing conditions drastically on the same day, thereby introducing a new variant against the flow of 5-day cricket.
The pink ball did quite a bit under lights, which puts added pressure on the curator to tailor the pitch in a way that the match lasts longer. A little less grass could help to extend the match and make the game a little more batsman-friendly.
Visibility was a problem as some fielders had difficulties spotting the ball. The ever reliable Steve Smith who takes stunners on the field dropped two regulation catches at slips. Spotting the pink ball under lights apparently isn’t the easiest thing to do.
How good the pink ball is for spin bowling on spin-friendly tracks needs to be explored. Nathan Lyon managed to pick 3 wickets and was able to get some turn, which is a positive indication.
Virender Sehwag pointed out rightly after a practice game, that batting could be tricky during transition hours, the twilight, when the lights are not bright enough but the natural light fades quickly. Spotting the pink ball during that tough phase could be difficult. It might help if dinner break (after second session) is taken during the twilight so players can come back and play under bright lights in the third session.
While pacers were particularly lethal in the Test, it would remain to be seen how dangerous an intimidating bowler of Mitchell Johnson’s (now retired) mould could be under lights. It remains to be seen if playing fast, short-pitched bowling under lights could be dangerous.
Conclusion
Day Night cricket can certainly bring the crowds back to cricket’s oldest format, considering the convenience of timing and the excitement. Combined with other innovations like 4-day Tests and 100 over days, it could be ensured that maximum crowds are pulled to watch a Test.
Feasibility of pink balls around the world and the safety aspects coupled with visibility still remain a concern. But amidst assurances that the Day Night Test wasn’t a one-off we will surely witness this paradigm shift in the game.