大象传媒

So were Kookaburra balls used for all the games mentioned above? Don't Duke make pink balls as well? I'm sure I read about a trial of pink Duke balls a couple of years ago but I don't know what came of it. Regardless of colour, it would be a shame if English teams were to lose the advantage they gain from using a ball which other teams are unfamiliar with.

i really think we are the last country that needs the pink ball as our test attendances arent in decline, but see no issue with us being at the forefront of the experiments.

its a great idea if it means a packed cape town / kingston / mumbai test full of the buzz that evening cricket presents, it is a very worrying site seeing empty staiums for test matches, so it is well worth trying out.

I don't know or care too much about pink balls. I rather wish the 大象传媒 had sent Alison Mitchell to cover one of the crucial second division promotion battles instead of a game which is relevant only because of this daft mid-September experiment.

There has been insufficient coverage on 5 Live Sports Extra of the final Division 2 games which really matter.

Demographically, I would have thought the number of Div 2 fans who care about the promotion issues will equal the number of Div 1 fans who want their side to win the Championship and therefore a similar level of coverage would have been warranted.

I feel better for my whinge and will feel better still if Surrey win their game.

Surely it would have been important to actually test the quality of the ball before using it in a professional game? Why is it pink anyway?

I played a 20/20 match on sunday with a pink ball and all the players agreed it was no easier to see than a red one. Both batsmen and fielders had trouble picking it out as the light faded on a gloomy day. Perhaps yellow would be a better choice?

@shakySpursforthecup: "Surely it would have been important to actually test the quality of the ball before using it in a professional game? Why is it pink anyway?"

It is pink because it has to visible in both daylight and floodlit conditions, so midway between the white one-day ball and the traditional red daylight match ball. It is also known the white ball behaves differently from the red ball (in terms of swing and wear), so they want something that behaves like a red ball but with the better visibility of the white ball.

The split seam can happen with any cricket ball, so I don't the quality was any issue; that would have been tested thoroughly before. It was the small quantity of balls actually available for this match that was the problem, so the split ball couldn't be replaced.

I'd like to know why the dyes can effect the ball's behaviour so much. Scientifically testing swing, seam, and wear patterns is pretty difficult. This is why you often have to test 'in the field' with proper games, and using feedback from experienced players.

Been playing sunday pyjama cricket with a pink ball for sometime now and it is easier to see, particularly as at club level the league balls are darker burgundy that don't shine but do hold their colour for longer.

In County cricket I understand there have been grumblings all season about the red tiflex benefitting the trundlers rather than the proper bowlers. Another case it woudl seem of county level experimentation by the administrators upsetting the professional game, surely there must be other leagues (County 2XI) to do this in?

As for improving attendance, after the novelty has worn off would attendance for England vs Bangladesh be vastly improved by a session from 5-9pm rather than a floodlit 5-7pm? I think not, plus the English weather plays a HUGE part.

I'm still unsure what the reasons for the experiment are. Is it to make D/N Test cricket a reality? What for? I can understand the need to capitalise on available playing time, so that (e.g.) a rain-affected day game can press on into the night under floodlights. In my opinion it's a tinker to far and wonder whether the health and longevity of t20 is behind all this.

Im against this in England. I could see the point in many other test playing nations where crowds are down for test cricket and I could even grudgingly accept there may be a case for it in county cricket where with one or two exceptions attendances are 'sparse' shall we say for four day cricket but English test cricket does not need this. Its a case of our county clubs being asked to 'experiment' in a competitive game for the probable benefit of forgien test teams if anybody and Mr Stephenson should not be degrading our championship in this manner,I call for him to resign his post.

I've got no philosophical objections to day/night cricket or pink balls but this can't be used to give yet more advantages to the batsman. If a pink Duke can be produced that matches its red counterpart for seam and swing then fine, if not and the choice is Kookaburras (no seam, lose their shine after 20 overs) or some experimental third option then absolutely not.

More day/night cricket seems a sensible way froward from the marketing perspective.

If the fllodlights are good enough, whats wrong witha red ball and white sightscreens throughout?

One of the problems of the red ball is that most of them simply aren't red - they're nearly black. The only person who can see them well is the batsman who has the aid of a sightscreen - certainly not the spectators who after all have paid to put their bums on the seats. There is a definite need to have a more visible ball for appreciation of the game, whether as spectators, scorers, umpires and let's not forget the fielders who face a variety of backgrounds at any level of the game. When orange and pink balls have been tried at club level, as many leagues have done for evening 20/20 games, they have proved to be much more visible especially on tree surrounded grounds with dark backgrounds. Why are cricket balls red in the first place? The only reason I can see is that the game of cricket is older than dye chemistry and red dyes such as eosin, vermilion and cochineal were all that were available. Around 8% of males have colour deficient vision and have serious difficulty distinguishing red from green especially in poor light, which makes red a pretty poor choice for them anyway, akin to asking normally colour sighted individuals to use a green ball - which would never been done. Orange is no better, and pink not much. The only colour that fits the bill for everyone is yellow, which seems to be completely off the radar, though it's used routinely in tennis where the ball is served faster than found in cricket. Surveys have shown that at least at first class level there are significantly fewer than 8% males in with colour deficient vision indicating they have been selected or self-selected out of the game - and they don't pay to attend either!

As to the comment that "it came at you a little quicker than you expected" I think that would be something that Sir Isaac Newton would have wanted to know about. I don't think he noticed that the colour of an object affected his Laws of Motion. Equally the fact that "a new red Tiflex is renown for its swing and seam whereas the pink Tiflex offered nothing" can have absolutely nothing to do with its colour!

It's a pity the seam split - that could have happened to any ball but the use of more visible balls is to be encouraged and may well attract more spectators to the game. I don't believe the game was devised so neither fielders or spectators could properly see what was going on.

I can't see why they can't just break out the PJ's and the white balls for test matches as well. I know there's tradition and all that guff, but seriously you may as well add the colour and spectacle.

@Tyneblade

On a side note, I was interested to learn that Sir Ian Botham is colour blind.

Overall I think it will be the Sub Continent who embrace Day/Night Test matches most - the evening weather in India is vastly more tolerable to play cricket in than the midday sun. However, were I doing so I would drown myself in insect repellent first.

#13 Never! We ought to be getting back to whites and proper cricket with one championship division and a Sunday League. We should also lead the cricketing world away from its obsession with T20 which is pandering to the simple minded and has no merit other than in persuading simpletons to part with their cash. Cricket was never meant to be played at night or with white balls or in cloured clothing,there is a sport for people whose brains cannot comprehend cricket and embraces all of those elements,it is called baseball (or rounders in England) and I would urge the followers of T20 to go and watch those sports and leave cricket alone. I know this is a forlorn hope of course because the whole world worships money and cricket is no exception but nothing will ever convince me that what we have today has improved the game one iota. Therefore I will content myself with maintaining the current status quo,let those with the attention spans of goldfish have their fun but leave test cricket in England alone.

Have any of the trial matches been televised? As cricket gets so much revenue from TV, I would have thought it was important to see how a pink ball shows up on a TV screen.

Oldwoodman, this trial was instigated by the ECB not the MCC and John Stephenson. It just happens to be on an area that Stephenson has a major interest in. Calling for his resignation is entirely unnecessary and unreasonable in this instance.
As for the use of a pink ball, if it works in the same manner as a red ball and enables day-night cricket I have no objection. However, if it doesn't react in the same way as its red counterpart then more work is needed before its use should be sanctioned for anything other than trial games, friendlies and non-first class cricket. I also wish to add my name to the list of those who disapprove of the subversion of the County Championship for this match and am disappointed by the use of different balls for first and second innings.