Vedam Jaishankar May 4th, 2018 0:14:12 IST

Cricket Australia must be yearning for the ‘good old days’ when they, along with England, enjoyed veto powers. They could have ridden rough-shod over ‘lesser powers’ like the Board of Control for Cricket in India and literally had their way with not a peep from any of the others.

But these are different times. Although they have ICC in their corner, they still have to wade through turbulent waters. This requires a fair amount of negotiations, discussion and mutual adjustments, especially if the opponents are India.

The crux of the matter is the Day-Night pink ball Test that the Aussies want to play at Adelaide when they get to host India later this year. They’ve already played four Pink Ball Tests against various opponents at home and smashed the living daylights out of all of them. They hope to add India’s scalp to the belt.

The ICC, like the rest of the cricketing world believes that surging interest in limited overs cricket, including T20 cricket, is swamping the game and making Test cricket almost redundant. They are experimenting with various options to make Test cricket as big a draw. These include 4-day Tests and day-night Tests.

The day-night Tests are referred to as Pink-ball Tests as they are distinct from regular day Tests which are played with the conventional red ball. The pink ball, they contend, does not get dirty as easily as the white ball, To add to greater visibility ICC has banked on black colour thread for the seam. Additionally, the leather is given a glossy pigment finish with a thick coat of pink paint to go with it. This ensures that the shining ball is easily visible for players, spectators and television audience alike.

Of course the host, in a bid to protect the colour and gloss of the pink ball for a longer time, goes the extra mile to roll out a greener pitch with an outfield which too is as lush as possible.

The downside is that the ball does not deteriorate as quickly as the red ball and thus reverse swing and even spin take a back seat. However, the pronounced black seam aides seam movement and on a softer green top it makes batting tougher.

Thus, all nine pink-ball Tests have ended in a result, with the South Africa vs Zimbabwe Test finishing in just two days, the Australia vs New Zealand Test in three days and the Australia Vs South Africa in four days. Besides, England were bowled out for a miserable 58 by New Zealand at Auckland.

Apparently the Pink ball takes some getting used to. Initially there is plenty of swing and seam to counter. One study found that during one of the Tests in Adelaide the Pink ball seamed 20 per cent more than the global average! Now that, as any batsman would confess, needs a lot of getting used to!

The layman might believe that the Pink ball is just a cricket ball in another colour. But there is a lot more to it. The entire process to make the ball pink and help it retain that colour for as long as possible changes the behaviour pattern of the ball. It makes it more seam and swing bowler friendly with only the most skilled of spinners getting into the act. Even there batsmen have a go at them to make up for their woes against the seamers and end up throwing away their wickets.

Australia meanwhile are desperate to highlight their supremacy in Pink ball cricket. They won all the four Pink ball Tests, against New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and England pretty comfortably. Additionally, attendance at the venues perked up. It averaged around 30,000 a day at the Adelaide Oval where at least one session was played under lights.

Australia, though, have been wise, They have been experimenting with Pink ball cricket since the 2013 Sheffield Shield season. Of course many of their first class cricketers were exposed to pink ball cricket even earlier. Thus almost all their Test players had a solid two year exposure to pink ball before they embarked on the first Test against New Zealand in 2015.

India, on the other hand have little experience with pink ball cricket. Some cricketers have played in a couple of domestic tournaments but the overwhelming majority of the national players don’t have any exposure to it.

This being the case what is the hurry to push them into committing suicide in Australia?

Updated Date: May 04, 2018 00:14:12 IST

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