Why Adelaide is flawless for the pink ball Test

It will create more interest in Test cricket.

Traditionalists who bemoan any change at all in Test cricket need to suck it up, they lost the battle decades ago when the idea of uncovered pitches went by the wayside.

Ultimately it is all about maintaining the relevance of Test cricket, a format I was brought up on and one I continue to cherish. I remember one tour that India had to Sri Lanka, it was a 20 or 22-day tour and only one day of cricket was possible.

Who cares if the pink lacquer falls off the pill in the first session of the match and it starts to turn green? It is a limited over match of 50 overs which are played by each team. The main reason to play day-night Test cricket, according to the ICC, is to promote the longer form of the game and arrest the fast-declining crowds at grounds.

The players have been vocal in their wariness over this change in format and have asked Cricket Australia to temper its excitement and treat this test as an experiment.

O’Keefe now has no clarity of whether his addition to Australia’s squad will extend to him getting a berth in the XI for the unprecedented day-night Test. Even if selectors believe the expected healthy coverage of grass would not favour spin, the 30-year-old’s imposing record in day-nighters at Adelaide Oval over the past three seasons, 18 wicket at an average of 18.22, would ensure any decision to exclude him would not be an easy one. The global administrators were up against time to come up with something new to ensure Test matches survived in the near future.

New Zealand will arrive in Adelaide today in good shape for the historic first day-night pink ball test starting on Friday. Bowling coach Dimi Mascarenhas said it was harder to successfully buff the pink ball as it wore, to retain shine, than it was for a red ball.

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Just look at Pakistan’s Test matches in the United Arab Emirates, played in a country where a large number of the population is cricket insane and yet which take place in near-empty stadiums.

Australia reached 2-389 at stumps on day one in Brisbane then finished 2-416 on day one in Perth – both venue records.

Boult did not bowl in the Black Caps’ two-day pink-ball warm-up at the WACA against Western Australia. If Steyn is unable to play, Morne Morkel may have to lead the South African pace attack since Vernon Philander is also ruled out due to injury.