Adelaide Oval's curator hopes two millimetres will make a world of difference in the looming day-night Test.

Curator Damian Hough has shaved two millimetres of grass from the Adelaide pitch to offer batsmen greater comfort against the pink ball when Australia host South Africa from Thursday.

Hough says the reduced length followed reviews of Adelaide's hosting of the inaugural day-night Test match last year, a fixture finished within three days with no team making more than 224 runs in an innings.

"We were really happy with the game but just felt maybe a couple of mill less ... it might not nip around quite as much," Hough told reporters on Tuesday.

"We still think it's going to hoop around a little bit at night with the ball but we just thought we'll maybe try and get that balance a bit better."

Last year's day-night Test match between New Zealand and Australia at Adelaide Oval was over inside of three days. ( AAP: Dave Hunt )

Hough said there remained healthy grass cover on the pitch for the third Test, done more for the benefit of the game than to protect the pink ball from losing its lustre.

"There is still a good amount of grass cover on it so the ball should still hold up well," Hough said.

"We might have been talking about that last year, that we needed to leave grass on it to protect the ball.

"[But] we have left grass on every pitch, four or five-day game we have had, since the start of last year.

"And we feel that has been positive for the way game progresses and just for an even contest."

AAP