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Australia vs New Zealand: First-ever day-night Test vindicates pink ball for now

Australia beat New Zealand by three wickets in the first-ever day-night Test as the pink ball was vindicated.

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The first-ever day-night Test was a success © Getty Images
The first-ever day-night Test was a success © Getty Images

Much was made of the pink ball ahead of the first-ever day-night Test between Australia and New Zealand at Adelaide. While certain cricketers criticised the pink ball — be it for discolouring, lack of visibility, or other reasons — some got behind the idea of its use. The true acid test was always going to be the third Test between Australia and New Zealand. The teams made history at Adelaide when they clashed for the first-ever day-night Test. Australia won what proved to be a close match by three wickets in three days. More importantly, the pink ball seemed to behave well and hold up quite nicely through the course of the match. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Australia vs New Zealand, 3rd Test at Adelaide

Behaviour: The first question people had was regarding how the pink ball would behave. It may have been just the Adelaide pitch, but the pink ball seemed to swing quite appreciably. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood managed to make the ball talk early on, getting the ball to seam and swing noticeably. Both bowlers took three wickets each in the first innings, and Hazlewood followed up with six in the second innings as well. Peter Siddle got the ball to wobble around as well, and Nathan Lyon managed to extract conspicuous turn.

Likewise for New Zealand, Trent Boult and Tim Southee managed to move the ball, with Boult taking five wickets in the second innings. Mark Craig managed to get turn as well. The ball certainly had something in it for the bowlers. READ: Australia beat New Zealand by 3 wickets in first-ever day-night Test at Adelaide

Visibility: The ball was immediately distinguishable when play began, with the pink colour proving to be slightly jarring on the eyes initially. As the match went on, the pink seemed less conspicuous though there was still enough visibility. However, it should be noted that the oldest the ball got was 72 overs, in Australia’s first innings. This leads to the next point.

Endurance: As mentioned above, the ball did not get old enough to make a massive difference. That said, there was some debate over whether the ball would even last till the second new ball. That debate was resolved; the ball did not deteriorate as it was feared. Of course, it remains to be seen how the ball will hold up after 90 or even 100 overs, should the need arise. READ: Australia vs New Zealand 2015 series shows DRS is not faulty; the need is for efficient operators and interpreters

Under lights: Perhaps the most pertinent question was how the ball would behave under lights. On Day One five wickets fell under lights with 83 runs being scored. The third session on Day Two saw 94 runs being scored for the loss of five more wickets. Day Three saw more action under lights, with 74 runs coming for the loss of four wickets. It was more or less a complete session, as Australia pulled off the win 23 overs into the post-dinner break.

Verdict: The first-ever day-night Test was a success. The match ended in three days (which some might take offence to, given Nagpur) but it produced some quality cricket where good batsmen were able to score runs and good bowlers were able to pick up wickets. The pink ball behaved well and held up nicely. It would seem both the day-night Test and the pink balls are here to stay. More experimentation in varying conditions is needed, but for now the signs are quite encouraging moving forward. READ: When Brendon McCullum paid perfect tribute to Phillip Hughes with dazzling double century against Pakistan

(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek who loves cricket more than cricketers. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)

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