A development, almost as historic in cricket as landing on the moon was for humankind, is on the cusp of ushering in the long-awaited concept of day-night Test cricket sooner than has seemed possible.
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A development, almost as historic in cricket as landing on the moon was for humankind, is on the cusp of ushering in the long-awaited concept of day-night Test cricket sooner than has seemed possible.
With an Australian (Kookaburra) and an English company (Duke) racing frantically to crash the sound barrier of producing a pink coloured ball that can last 80 overs or more, Duke has claimed a breakthrough which could conceivably administer the kiss of life to Test cricket, now on the verge of rigor mortis in many countries.
The concept of twilight Test cricket to serve as a magnet to lure back fans, estranged from five days of old-world tedium in today's fast-paced world but increasingly besotted with the sexier 50-over and hit-and-giggle Twenty20 versions, has floundered because of the inexistence of durable balls that are visible after dark.
Cricket Australia (CA), ever in pursuit of cutting edge developments, yesterday announced it will begin trials on the Kookaburra and Duke cricket balls next week in a series of three-day Futures League matches to be played between 2.30pm and 9.30pm.
CA chief executive James Sutherland said the exercise was to determine how the new pink balls performed at night and to evaluate different brands as a precursor to playing day-night Tests, a concept considered too radical by traditionalists but deemed inevitable by pragmatists desperate to save Test cricket from extinction.
Duke claims its pink balls have regularly lasted 80 overs in four-day matches in the West Indies.
The company's managing director, Dilip Jajodia, is quoted as saying: "They (Duke balls) have lasted the 80 overs and one of my pink balls was not changed for 119 overs."
Whereas Australian firm Kookaburra will reportedly stick as closely as possible to the principles of the red balls, Jajodia's Duke is treading a path as yet untraversed.
"I am not saying that it is not possible," Jajodia reportedly said. "You cannot keep it (the ball) clean unless you give it protection and treat the surface in a different way".
The traditional red ball behaves differently in an innings, especially after it deteriorates. According to The Australian newspaper: "It is relatively easy to make a pink ball last a long time if you put a tough surface on it". Doing so will produce different characteristics from a traditional Test ball.
The red dye in a leather cricket ball does not show white marks, while white and pink do, which makes them unusable more rapidly. A Test ball has traditionally lasted 80 overs and a one-day ball 35.
Rob Elliot, managing director of Kookburra, said research and development teams employed by his company and its tannery had been working hard on making a pink ball that was as close as possible to the red one.
"I think we have come up with a finish that will hold its colour better and hold it for longer and the surface won't deteriorate as quickly," Elliot said.
He expects the final decision to depend on what "compromises" administrators were willing to make.
Sutherland, however, expects "compromises" to be made.
"There already is some compromise in one-day cricket where the ball gets changed after 35 overs or at a time when the umpires see that it has discoloured in a major way," the CA chief executive said.
The war of words between Duke and Kookaburra continues even as the choice of brand u2014 and, indeed, the future of Test cricket as we know it at present u2014 hangs in the balance.
(Source: The Australian)
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