“Over the five days it’s certainly going to dry out so it (the ball) might hold its colour a lot more at the start of the Test than it will at the end”. This was pitch doctoring apparently.
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Speaking at a press conference ahead of the Test, Kohli said, “We all have scored enough runs against him in the past”. I give credit to Australia and New Zealand that both they have made a decision to do this. But this is not to help the pacemen by livening the surface up, and offering some encouragement to the spearchuckers with a bit of seam movement.
Mitchell Starc showed how devastating the new ball can be under lights in last month’s day-night Sheffield Shield clash in Adelaide.
Bat has ruthlessly dominated ball in the series so far, but a switch to the pink ball and predictions of a grassy Adelaide Oval pitch may change that.
“For us, it’s about focusing on the game and not worrying about the ball”.
Coach Darren Lehmann was weighing up whether to play two spinners in a home Test for the first time in a decade and Lyon said he and O’Keefe would not disappoint if paired together. “At night with the new ball it swings – and probably more so than it does during the day”. “Hopefully, it will be better for the game”, Kohli said on the eve of the third Test between India and South Africa here.
South Australian cricket officials have complete faith in their groundstaff to have turned an AC/DC rock concert venue back to its pristine conditions for this week’s day-night test.
The innovation is meant to attract more spectators. Allied to this is another reason, about which in a moment.
NZ suffered a collapse of 4-30 on Sunday after dinner in their pink-ball tour match against Western Australia. The only thing that they were concerned about is that during twilight it is hard to pick up the ball.
Kohli did not try to read too much into Dale Steyn’s groin strain that might lead to the fast bowler’s absence for the second straight Test match.
Here, then, is where the ICC have missed the point.
Or approach it laterally. If both teams don’t agree on playing on a particular wicket, then it is not suited for a game of cricket.
“I got hit against India in Brisbane on the same thumb last season as well and the pain is always going to be there”, Warner said.
“I wouldn’t say we have targeted a particular player as such, but obviously I am sure it will be a very worrying factor for the opposition that someone who is an important player has not been able to get lots of runs in the series”.
“That’s been very consistent over the past couple of years with the pink ball”. The argument here is that the pink ball is unnecessary and tradition is no reason not to change the attire.
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Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) is also in favour of Day night test matches.
