{"id":414047,"date":"2026-01-15T06:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T06:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/414047\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T06:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T06:37:09","slug":"steve-smith-joins-england-in-calling-for-pink-ball-test-boycott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/414047\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Smith joins England in calling for pink-ball Test boycott"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Smith<\/a> has thrown his support behind boycotting pink-ball Tests<\/a> for future Ashes<\/a> series, joining England’s push to steer away from day-night fixtures.<\/p>\n

Reports emerged this week that England officials were looking to avoid playing in the pink-ball match next time they arrive in Australia for the 2029\/30 series.<\/p>\n

England do not use the pink ball in their home summers, which means the next Ashes campaign in the middle of next year will not feature that format.<\/p>\n

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However, the 150th anniversary one-off Test between Australia and England, scheduled for March 2027 at the MCG, will be played with the pink ball.<\/p>\n

Speaking to media ahead of the Sydney Smash between the Sixers<\/a> and Thunder<\/a> on Friday night, Smith conceded he was on board with the stance from England – even if he won’t be around to witness the potential change in almost four years’ time.<\/p>\n

\"Jofra<\/p>\n

Jofra Archer and Steve Smith faced off under lights at the Gabba.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“I’m not a big fan of the pink ball, I can’t see the thing very well,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think I’ll be around for that [in 2029]. For those that like the pink ball it’s a bit of a shame I suppose, but I don’t think you need it in an Ashes series.<\/p>\n

“We saw the crowds that we got throughout the series out here in all the red-ball games, so I’m not sure we need it. Maybe there’s a time and place, I’m not sure.<\/p>\n

“I saw a couple of the English guys throughout the series… were saying we probably don’t need it for an Ashes series and they’re probably right.”<\/p>\n

One player who would want to keep the pink-ball Tests going is Mitchell Starc<\/a>, who has an incredible record since its inception – but Smith doubts he will have to worry.<\/p>\n

Starc is about to turn 36 years old, and said this week he has no plans to still be playing cricket when he turns 40.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know if Starcy will be around then, so he’s probably not too worried,” Smith said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Steve Smith speaks to media.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

Smith, the 36-year-old who captained Australia in four of the five Tests this summer, was also quizzed about his future and his desire to play in England next year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smith said it comes down to his hunger and form, with age not a concern.<\/p>\n

“(My decision will be based on) whether I still want to be playing and performing well, it’s as simple as that,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Age is just a number. If you can do your job and you’re still the best at it, everything else is irrelevant in my opinion. It only helps having experience in big games.<\/p>\n

“That showed throughout the Ashes. We had an experienced squad and experienced players know how to win big moments and we did that better than England.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Smith has thrown his support behind boycotting pink-ball Tests for future Ashes series, joining England’s push to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-414047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cricket","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}