Proteas may face pink choice for Australia Test

An ICC decision to use pink balls to extend play in the case of bad light will add more intrigue to the first Test between South Africa and Australia in September.

The clash is is scheduled for Durban where over the years, play has been routinely interrupted by the weather.

The ICC announced Monday that a trial would be introduced where the red ball could be swapped for a pink ball in the case of bad light. There have been 29 day/night Tests (25 men’s and four women’s) in which the pink ball has been used throughout. The majority of those matches have been in Australia - 18 - and SA has hosted just one, in Gqeberha, against Zimbabwe in 2017.

According to the ICC both teams would have to agree before the match for balls to be changed.

“In principle I like the call to rather play more cricket than not play more cricket because I think there’ve been too many easy excuses made not to play cricket. You’ve got spectators who’ve paid to watch 90 overs of cricket (in a day) and they don’t get that and if this allows that to happen, then that’s great,” said former Proteas Test opener Stephen Cook.

However, Cook, who played in one of only two pink ball Tests featuring SA, did wonder if it was the most important matter for the five-day format. “If I had to list 10 things about Test cricket that had to be solved, I don’t think this would be among them, but there were smart people making these decisions, so let’s see.”

Cook played in the Adelaide Test in 2016, then only the third to be held as a day/night five-day match, scoring 40 in the first innings and 104 in the second, when he batted under lights for a large portion of his stay at the crease.

“It was an amazing experience. In our warm-up match before, I did wonder if I would see the ball. It helped that in that second innings I was in, I was on about 50 when the lights came on, so that made it much easier. It is very hard if you’re coming into bat, playing against the pink under lights.”

The ICC proposal is different in that the ball would have to be switched. “The pink ball under lights, does behave a little differently; it also ages differently to a red ball. You could have a scenario where a team is 200/2, bad light comes in, the pink ball comes out and suddenly it starts swinging around corners. I’m not sure if they’ve improved the technology since I played, but if they have, then maybe this could work.”

The Proteas will face Australia in the first Test in Durban starting on October 9, and given Kingsmead’s history, there is a real possibility that the match could fall in line with the ICC decision - if of course both teams agree to use the pink ball.

“Australia is quite used to it, because they play it often.” That is not the case for SA, which last played with the pink ball in what was a four-day Test against Zimbabwe, with the match hosted at St George’s Park, which at the time was the only venue that had the requisite floodlights.

The Proteas won that match easily.

Whether Temba Bavuma would agree to interchanging between red and pink balls for the first Test of a high profile series at the start of the summer, remains to be seen, especially as the ICC is also conducting research on lighting technology for match officials and venues to reduce lost play due to poor light over the next few months.