Pink ball could cure the ills of Caribbean Test cricket, says Courtney Walsh

Thank you so much!


Hah! Neither, by the sounds of it. Apparently fielders were struggling to see the ball when it hit nightfall. That's okay for the batsmen, though, because apparently the ball didn't reverse swing or even conventionally swing until the artificial lights took over.

But I think you've stumbled upon cricket's next gimmick there, Ketchim! Glow in the dark cricket, played from 8PM until 4AM. Means that people can finish work, go for dinner, then watch a whole night's worth of cricket before leaving for their morning commute! And if people don't want to stay awake all night, I'm sure the ICC can start work on just beaming the images into people's brains while they sleep...

It can't glow in the dark, it's just supposedly easier to see under the artificial lights. I say supposedly because some of the fielders did seem to still be struggling so I think only time will tell if it remains in use or not.

It will only work in Australia.

I'd like to see it used in all the continents under different conditions before I'll give my opinion on the pink ball debate.

I think it did enough in the test in Australia to justify trialling it more, but for now that's what it will be, just a trial.

The ‘Big Three’ boards of Australia, India and England turn over hundreds of millions of dollars annually and are comfortably profitable while the West Indies Cricket Board have annual earnings of less than US$30 million and continue to incur crippling financial losses.

While that might very well be true, I'm not quite sure what the post is trying to say regarding the thread of using the pink ball?

If the pink ball works, then surely that will attract more people to games, increasing the revenue so it will be good for the game in all departments?

But that's not the only aspect to consider, though... playing games later might attract bigger crowds and more revenue, but there's no point if the ball makes the game a batsman's paradise. And if the fielders can't see it, and the batsmen are scoring runs all over the show because the fielding side can't even sniff the ball, it's going to make for a boring show. Then you'll have gone to all of this trouble to make the game playable in the evening, but then be in the situation where the public won't want to see the game at that time because either the wrong team is batting or the game is so predictable!

I hate to be flippant and state the obvious, but crowds won't show up to Test matches until West Indies start winning or producing world class players. This is true of almost all teams in all sports. Fans will pack out stadiums when their teams are competitive and winning matches. They will show up to watch those once in a generation talent. Only the diehards will show up to watch and support a team that struggle to be remain competitive.

While I would expect the introduction of day/night Test matches to produce an initial bump in attendance, what happens once the novelty factor wears off? Fans pack out the stadiums for the CPL, regardless of the start time. If you put a competitive team out on the field, fans will show up.

Amen! We can bicker all we want over the merits of the pink ball, but its the competitiveness and talent of the team using it that is going to be the main factor in its continued success. As they say, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig!

While I agree that the day /night tests will only be a success if the pink ball performs as it should, and of course every fan wants to see their team do well. It's no fun going watching your team get beat game in and game out.

It's got to be worth giving it a go though, but it seems like a lot of fans, around the world have written the idea off before it's even been given a chance.