The destiny of the pink leather ball

The pink leather balls coupled with the day-night Test matches is one of the biggest innovations in the game of cricket. These innovative features are set to be added to the game on a more regular basis as the ICC looks set to tackle the declining viewership of Test cricket which seemed inevitable considering that the fast-paced world today is losing its interest in a 5-day game. They may seem like independent of each other but they are mutually symbiotic.

The idea of day-night Test matches is being debated for over 3-4 years now; the main aim was to organize the day’s proceedings in a way that they could fit into the viewers busy schedules. Considering that in a regular Test match wherein play starts in the morning and ends at dusk, if it’s a weekday then people are unlikely to be able to make it to the stadium because their jobs wouldn’t permit them to do so.

The same problem presents itself for the live telecast. People may not be able to watch the proceedings in their offices, so the most they can do is watch the midnight highlights of the day’s proceedings. The day-night Test match attempts to provide a solution for the same. In this case, the play would start in the afternoon around 2:30 pm and go on till 9:30 pm in the night.

This shift in the timings of the match would allow students and people in offices to flock to the stadium after their school closes or their shift ends and unwind watching a game of cricket. It’s actually a brilliant idea which faced a minor complication as the color of the red ball was suspected to be hard to spot under lights at a time when the ball may have lost its shine and been subjected to normal wear and tear.

Also read – West Indies and Pakistan set to play pink-ball Test

A lot of deliberations were held regarding the possible color of this new leather ball to be used in the day-night Tests. A number of people wondered what could be the possible reason for arriving and settling on the color pink! I thought about it too and wondered whether it was an idea to raise awareness for breast cancer! Some of my friends seconded this theory of mine but the truth is far less interesting.

A number of colors were considered among them yellow and orange as well. Some of the problems with these were that the television cameras may have a hard time capturing these colors under lights. After pink being identified as a solution, extensive testing was done to identify the best shade of pink; 16 different shades were seen finally settling on a shade which is closer to red. The stitching color of the seam was to be green. The important thing was that throughout the process of developing the ball, feedback from the players, umpires and cameramen had been valuable.

In terms of the construction of the ball, the pink leather ball is closer to its red counterpart and there are only a few subtle changes differentiating the two. The pink ball has a protective film added to it to preserve the pink color. This is the reason behind the added period for which the pink ball retains its shine.

The pink leather ball has undoubtedly been subjected to the most rigorous amount of testing than any cricket ball before. The first round of trials wherein day-night matches were held in the Sheffield Shield were far from successful with a large percentage of players arguing that the new ball doesn’t provide a fair competition. Some of the players also argued that the new ball portrays different characteristics of swing and seam than its red counterpart.

Also read – Pink ball glows like radium: Mohammed Shami

Two years on and the pink ball has made a roaring debut in India as it receives a trial in the Cricket association of Bengal (CAB) domestic competition’s final. The first international day-night Test match played between Australia and New Zealand was successful as well and it seems that Kookaburra has improved upon the ticks in its new pink leather ball.

It’s about time day-night Test matches become a frequent feature and this new ball which has been in the waiting for over 7 years sees the light of day. A few discrepancies will always remain. Batsmen may blame his poor performance on the bad performance of the ball and go on to blast it. He may not be necessarily right. The pink ball’s performance is majorly subjective but if it’s been clearing trials for 7 years, then I think it’s about time.

Written by Harshit Rakheja