Teams have long batted under lights in one-day cricket, however the timing of when innings begin has typically meant batsmen face the new ball in natural light.
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But an emotional shadow will hang over the historic pink ball test.
Lyon said many batsman could not see the seam of the pink ball and it would give him and O’Keefe an advantage.
“With the pink ball, due to its characteristics, it swings a lot as well so I think that will be prevalent the whole game”.
“I can’t really comment on the other grounds, but from what I hear, this is probably the best ground”.
“As someone said to me years ago, why are we surprised when people go to one-day cricket and T20 cricket more than they do a Test match, when we put all the one-dayers and T20s on in school holidays and at night”, he told the Sydney Daily Telegraph on Monday (November 23). “If he’s able to get through that he’ll be considered for the Test”.
His untimely death subsequently caused havoc on the cricket schedule, with the first Two Tests rescheduled to allow the Australian players to not only mourn the death of their much-loved teammate, but also attend his funeral in his hometown of Macksville on the New South Wales mid-north coast.
O’Keefe is part of a 13-man squad in Adelaide, but appears unlikely to feature in the final XI.
Asked whether he had major concerns about the availability of the left-arm paceman or instead was confident he would play, Hesson replied: “I wouldn’t say I’m either, really”.
“If you played enough overs in the day, and I think they’re talking about 100 overs in the day in four days, that’s 400 overs of Test cricket”.
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.
But with ticket interest in the day-night match reaching “Ashes levels”, according to Sutherland, Cricket Australia and the MCC have every right to be optimistic before the experiment.
Back on topic now, and there’s no doubt that the one-year anniversary of the tragic passing of Phillip Hughes will cast a shadow over the first ever day-night Test at the Adelaide Oval starting this Friday afternoon.
“The sun seems to shine a bit brighter here, the outfield’s that bit greener and the wicket – or the way I interpret it – is a bit wider, harder and looks like it’s going to spin”.
Traditionalists might oppose the forward thinking strategy, but Taylor points out that at various periods Test cricket has been a six-day format and even a timeless game.
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“To be able to play here again will be another dream come true”.
