{"id":696543,"date":"2026-05-26T22:04:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T22:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/696543\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T22:04:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T22:04:21","slug":"pink-ball-in-play-to-stop-bad-light-delays-in-tests-this-summer-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/696543\/","title":{"rendered":"Pink ball in play to stop bad light delays in Tests this summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DanielSave<\/p>\n

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A pink ball would be swapped in for a red ball during Test matches under a proposal before the International Cricket Council, to avoid stoppages due to bad light and extend playing hours.<\/p>\n

Two sources with knowledge of confidential discussions confirmed reports out of India that the proposal, which has been discussed by the ICC\u2019s cricket and chief executives committees, will be subject to further talks at the ICC board meeting in Ahmedabad this weekend.<\/p>\n

\"BadBad light stopped play at the SCG Test in 2023, 2024 and 2026.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Should those conversations progress, the new regulations would be in place in time for this summer\u2019s home Test matches against New Zealand and England, plus Australia\u2019s tours of South Africa and India.<\/p>\n

The ICC was contacted for comment. Cricket Australia declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg has been a leading advocate for exploration of way to keep players on the field in dull light, largely because of a succession of bad light delays during recent New Year\u2019s Tests in Sydney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"Steve<\/a><\/p>\n

Day one of the fifth Ashes Test was truncated by more than a session in January, a repeat of similar events during a Test against Pakistan in 2024 and South Africa in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things I get frustrated with in cricket, bad light\u2019s one of them,\u201d Greenberg said on SEN Radio in January. \u201cI caution those remarks against the remarks of players who said they couldn\u2019t pick the ball up and it was really dark and those sorts of things. But I get frustrated that we don\u2019t have a solution to this problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sit under the ICC rules and guidelines so we have to respect that, but I do think we can use our voice to advocate for a change. Let\u2019s show a little bit of willingness to see if we can be better at this.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the entertainment business. I can\u2019t think of another business that continues to walk off in front of its fans. Again, I preface that by saying it has to be safe for the players, clearly, but we\u2019ve got big light towers here and we\u2019ve got technology. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a way we can make our way through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Venues NSW chair Tony Shepherd, who shared the board table with Greenberg before he joined CA, said of bad light restrictions in 2024: \u201cI think they ought to have a good look at the light question. To stop the play today because of bad light is bullshit. Switch to a pink ball … and keep the game going.\u201d<\/p>\n

While details of the rule change are still to be fleshed out, the operating principle would be to use the pink ball under lights to extend playing time if both competing teams agreed to the playing condition before a series.<\/p>\n

\"MarnusMarnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja leave the field due to bad light at the SCG.Getty<\/p>\n

It is not clear whether day-night Tests, currently played with a pink ball for their duration, would move to using a red ball during daylight hours.<\/p>\n

These kinds of tweaks are likely to meet with a mixed response from players, who remain suspicious of the pink ball and its vagaries. Former Test opener Usman Khawaja voiced concerns about interchanging pink and red balls in 2024.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is, I\u2019m retiring,\u201d Khawaja said. \u201cThe red ball is so distinct. I\u2019ve played white-ball [cricket], I\u2019ve played pink-ball, I\u2019ve played red-ball. They all react so differently. Nothing reacts like that red ball. How they make it, the dye they put on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe red ball is what we grew up playing with,\u201d he added. \u201cThe red ball is Test cricket, right? So unless you can find a way to replicate the sun, the lights aren\u2019t the same. The lights shining on a red ball is still really hard to see, whereas a pink ball is a lot better, but it doesn\u2019t react the same as red.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this is my argument. The beauty of Test cricket and what I love about Test cricket is it really hasn\u2019t changed a lot in the last 100 years. I think people maybe are just getting a little bit more impatient. It sucks, but that\u2019s Test cricket, unfortunately. And when it rains or when you have bad light, you just have to cop it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Australian coach Justin Langer has said that players\u2019 views need to be balanced with the overall picture for the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is so frustrating, and I\u2019ve walked in all the shoes as a player and as a batsman, and you think you want to be off because you want perfect conditions and then as a coach you want what\u2019s best for your team,\u201d Langer said on Seven in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when you look at the big picture it is crazy that these guys aren\u2019t playing Test cricket here. It\u2019s not great for the game of cricket this is happening right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

White-ball captain Mitchell Marsh has been ruled out of the Pakistan ODI series due to an ankle injury he picked up in the closing stages of the Indian Premier League.<\/p>\n

Josh Inglis will captain the side in the absence of Marsh, who has flown home to Perth. It is unclear whether Marsh will be fit in time for the second leg of the tour in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

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\"DanielDaniel Brettig<\/a> is The Age’s chief cricket writer and the author of several books on cricket.Connect via X<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-696543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696543","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=696543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}