Mitchell Starc looms as Australia’s big weapon with the all-new pink ball as Test cricket ventures into the unknown with the first ever day-night Test against New Zealand in Adelaide starting Friday.
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The performance of the ball, and the success of Test cricket under floodlights, will be closely watched in what could be a breakthrough in attracting more fans to the struggling five-day format.
Ticket sales have been promising, with a first-day crowd of up to 40,000 expected – compared with 16,000 the last time the two sides met in Adelaide in 2008.
TV audiences should also be high with play until 9:00 pm (UAE 15:30). The first day-night match in 138 years of Tests is one of cricket’s rare innovations, and follows the advent of one-day internationals in the 1970s and the glitzy Twenty20 format in the last decade.
I’m respectful of all the discussion re day/night tests and use of the pink ball. I am all for giving it a crack- we won’t know till we try!
— Jason Gillespie (@YCCCDizzy) November 22, 2015
Tactics are expected to be dramatically affected with the new ball, coloured pink to help visibility, expected to swing freely during the night session – conditions which should bring Starc to the fore.
He grabbed three wickets with lively swing in an evening session of a domestic Sheffield Shield match in Adelaide earlier this season.
“It usually swings with the new ball and also under lights it tends to swing a little bit more,” spinner Nathan Lyon said of the pink ball.
“I’m a big fan of bowling with the pink ball because they (batsmen) can’t see the seam so it’s going to be interesting times.”
Australia hold a 1-0 lead after winning by 208 runs in Brisbane, meaning the Kiwis can level the series if they win in Adelaide.
Australia are contemplating playing two spinners with Stephen O’Keefe’s record in Adelaide bringing him into contention alongside Lyon. O’Keefe has taken 18 wickets for New South Wales in three pink ball Sheffield Shield games at the Adelaide Oval.
