Published: Nov 20, 2015, 12:34 PM (IST)
Edited: Nov 26, 2015, 08:16 PM (IST)
November 27, 2015 will be a historic day as cricket will witness its first ever day-night Test, at Adelaide Oval, in the backdrop of the historic cathedral, much to the horror of purists. Australia lead the three-match series 1-0 and the decider is all set to be played under the lights. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has cleared the use of pink balls for the Test,with Australians having already used the pink balls in a few warm-up matches and domestic competitions. However, the feedback given by them are not particularly positive. Scorecard: Australia vs New Zealand 2015-16, 3rd Test at Adelaide
Starc was playing for New South Wales (NSW) in a Day-Night Sheffield Trophy match; he said that he could not see the ball standing at the fence and believes even the crowd will be unable to spot it either. “It’s definitely not a red ball,” Starc said. “It doesn’t react anything like the red ball, in terms of swing and the hardness of it anyway. It goes soft pretty quickly, I didn’t see a huge amount of reverse swing in that game and I don’t think it swung from memory too much until the artificial light took over. It definitely reacts very, very differently to the red ball,” added Starc in an interview to espncricinfo.com.
Starc added: “The other thing as well is, personally, I couldn’t see the thing at night on the boundary. I couldn’t see the ball. So I’m not sure how the crowd are going to see it. I understand the pink ball has changed a lot from when it first came in for trials. It’s improved a lot, so Kookaburra has done well there. READ: James Pattinson could be under-prepared ahead of 3rd Test: David Saker
“But time will tell if it works with the crowds and the viewership and the way that cricketers respond to it. We can understand why it’s happening — they want to grow the game and attract more people to the game at the different times it’s going to be played,” said Starc.
Former Australia opener Chris Rogers too echoed Starc’s views, saying day-night cricket is not for him and he will never play a Day-Night Test in his life after he too could not see the ball. Having said that, it should be mentioned here that Rogers’ colour-blindness is responsible for this. Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting also has voiced his opinion against the latest development in cricket. READ: Australia vs New Zealand 2015 3rd Test at Adelaide: Hosts likely to go with two spinners
Having said that, here are some of the things that the viewers can expect for the first ever day-night Test:
Pink Balls: The spectators will see the new Kookaburra pink ball in action, instead of the traditional red ball. According to Managing Director of Kookaburra, Brett Elliott, the pink ball has gone through rigorous testing and will “naturally evolve once it is used at the international level”.
Floodlights to take full effect: Gone are the days when the umpires would ask batsmen if they wanted to continue in fading lights or not. Instead, floodlights will now take full effect in the stadiums, and batsmen will be forced to play under lights for the first time in Test cricket. In other words, there will be no light-meter, which means umpires will have to carry one item less. That must come as a welcome relief for them, given the number of times they will have to summon the fourth umpire with the box of balls once the pink ball loses its sheen!
Evolving with times: The fact that ICC, as well as a couple of countries other than Australia and New Zealand, are willing to play day-night Tests, shows the need for cricket to evolve. Innovation is always a welcome sight in any field. For example, with the introduction of T20s, we have seen that more and more people throng the stadiums and watch it on television as well. At the end of the day, cricket is a winner (to borrow a phrase from Ravi Shastri), which is a great sign.
End of lunch breaks: With the match starting at 2 pm Local Time, it is highly unlikely they will call for lunch within a couple of hours. For years, the spectators are used to having lunch and tea breaks, but it will be interesting to see what break the players will take at the end of first session. Refreshment break, supper break perhaps? Dinner? Late night snack? Tiffin? READ: Australia vs New Zealand 2015 day-night Test at Adelaide Oval: James Pattinson ready for comeback
Chances of crowd getting hit: With the players in the outfield already complaining that they cannot see the ball, it will be even more difficult for the crowd to spot the ball when it comes in their direction. Say explosive batsmen like David Warner, Ross Taylor or Brendon McCullum hit the ball out of the park and goes into the crowd. The spectators perhaps cannot even defend themselves with them being unable to see the ball.
Major boost for Test cricket: Test cricket of late has been looked down upon among many people around the world. It will now give them an opportunity to watch the matches when they come back from work in the evening. The local spectators can also go to watch matches in the stadiums after office hours. Though there are shorter and more attractive formats of the game, one cannot deny that Test cricket has its own charm. READ: Steve O’Keefe surprise inclusion in Australia’s squad for 3rd Test vs New Zealand
The first ever day-night Test will no doubt be a big day for cricket, given the fact that it is being experimented in international cricket for the first time. It is therefore important that this match is a success for the longevity of the innovative idea to work as a whole.
(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)
