27th of November, 2015 has been announced by Cricket Australia as the day when the first ever day-night Test match will be played. The Adelaide Oval will get the honour of hosting the historic match.
New Zealand are to visit Australia in November for Chappell-Hadlee Series (Trans-Tasman Trophy). The series comprises of three Test matches out of which the third Test will be the first ever day-night Test match.
James Sutherland, the Chief Executive of Cricket Australia, has said that day-night Test matches are for the facility of the fans. He said that these matches will allow larger number of fans to watch the match in the ground as well as on television. For the record, James Sutherland has been a supporter of day-night Test matches for past four years or so. The ball that will be used in this historic match will be the ‘pink kookaburra’. It is said that this pink ball is designed to be visible in the floodlights, even when the players are wearing the traditional white kit.
The Pink Ball:
It has been seven years since the making of pink ball. This ball has been through many experiments, tests and color changes. There has been a time when the manufacturers decided to color the ball yellow or fluorescent orange but these weren’t much appreciated by professionals and were too far away from the traditional ‘red cherry’.
At the end, the manufacturers had to settle with the pink colour only. They have tried about 16 different shades of pink on the ball and tested them all under the conditions of play and with the professionals. After working for several years, they have now come up with this ‘pink ball’ that they think is best for a day-night Test match. Despite the manufacturers’ claim that the ball is perfect for day-night Test matches, many players have shown their concerns. Amongst them is Mitchell Starc, who has played a domestic day-night first-class match with the pink ball.
He said:
“The other thing as well is, personally, I couldn’t see the thing at night on the boundary. I couldn’t see the ball. So I’m not sure how the crowd are going to see it.”
While from the New Zealand side, lots of players have shown concern over the day-night Test match as well as the use of pink ball. They might have never played using the pink ball and that is their main concern.
The Chappell-Hadlee Trophy 2015 will be the first between the two nations after the one held in 2011, which was a two-match series and ended up in a draw as both sides won a match each.
Since 2011, there has been no Test series between Australia and New Zealand.
This historic day-night Test match will also be a tribute to late Australian cricketer, Phillip Hughes, who tragically passed away last year on 27th November at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. It was the afternoon session of the Sheffield Shield match between South Australia and New South Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground when he was struck under his ear by the ball that he missed while trying to hook it.
At the Adelaide Oval on 27th November, it will also be the first time in the history that there will not be any lunch and tea break, instead there will be tea and dinner break.
While a few players have some concerns and a few are very enthusiastic about this match, cricket fans around the world have supported the day-night Test Match. They are eager to see the classic Tests being played at night and will certainly make sure that there is a very large audience to the historic game.
