Day-night Test: Mitchell Starc launches scathing attack on pink ball, new format

AUSTRALIA’S Ashes ace Mitchell Starc has savaged CA’s day-night Test, saying the pink ball may pose a serious threat to the integrity and quality of the game.

CANTERBURY, ENGLAND - JUNE 24: Australia's Mitchell Starc in action during the Australia Nets Session at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence on June 24, 2015 in Canterbury, England. (Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images)

CRICKET Australia’s day/night Test has been savaged by one of its biggest stars, with Mitchell Starc adamant the pink ball is unsuitable and may pose a serious threat to the integrity and quality of the game.

Starc played in the most recent trialling of the concept last summer in a Sheffield Shield clash at Adelaide Oval, where the inaugural Test will be held from November 27 against New Zealand.

The left-arm destroyer has claimed the ball used just a few months ago reacts “nothing like” a red Kookaburra in terms of its firmness and swing and admits he “couldn’t see the thing” while fielding and fears for those in the crowd.

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And this was a Shield game where Starc performed strongly.

Accepting of the fact the game is going ahead whether he likes it or not, Starc has called on CA and the ICC to at least consider putting an asterix on match records to differentiate them from a normal Test.

If Australian players aren’t vehemently opposed to the day/night fixture, the majority are at the very least sceptical, with fellow fast bowler Mitchell Johnson outlining his concerns that the traditions of cricket’s oldest format could be compromised before biting his tongue.

Steve Smith and Brad Haddin both expressed excitement about the game venturing into something new and encouraged their teammates to embrace it, but speaking just hours after CA’s official announcement, Starc came off the long run.

“Personally, I couldn’t see the thing at night on the boundary. I couldn’t see the ball. So I’m not sure how the crowd are going to see it,” said Starc.

Mitchell Starc in action during a nets session.

“I played in the NSW game in Adelaide last season. It’s definitely not a red ball.

“It doesn’t react anything like the red ball in terms of swing and the hardness of it anyway.

“It goes soft pretty quickly. I didn’t see a huge amount of reverse swing in that game and I don’t think it swung from memory too much until the artificial light took over. It definitely reacts very, very differently to the red ball.

“I’m yet to be convinced.”

Players accept CA’s motivations for trying to progress and evolve the game, but despite the work put in by Kookaburra, the game stands accused by Starc at least of potentially rushing in day/night Tests before it might be fair and practical to play them.

Tasmania spinner Xavier Doherty with the pink ball ahead of a Shield game.

CA chief executive James Sutherland insists the balls have undergone years of testing and are ready for use.

Averages and statistics determine Test careers and how they’re remembered, and Starc says the game ought to think about ways of safeguarding against potential anomalies that might arise from day/night conditions and how the contest between bat and ball may not remain as pure as intended.

“Yeah absolutely that could come into it. At the moment, for the time being, it’s only going to be that Test between Australia and New Zealand. It’s not going to be South Africa playing the West Indies,” he said.

“They’re not going to have the same results.

The Kookaburra pink balls to be used in the first day-night Test.

“Guys like Chris Rogers — whether he’s available or not — the fact is he can’t see the pink ball (due to being colour blind) and it means he can’t play. He’s not the only player out there who is going to be affected by seeing the ball.

“Whether you have to start a whole new set of stats for the pink ball as you do with the red and white ball — it throws up a huge number of questions and theories about where the game is going.

“I think that’s been brought up to the ACA (Australian Cricketers Association) through the player group.

“We can understand why it’s happening … ask me again after it’s been played and we’ll see what the reaction is then.”

Shane Watson’s role as a representative of the ACA has put him at the forefront of discussions.

He says the major concern from New Zealand and Australian players is that they will go into a potentially series-deciding Test match with very limited experience in playing with a pink ball.

Ed Cowan with the new pink ball.

A round of day/night Shield matches will be held, but for Australian players this will be just three days after they return home from the tour of Bangladesh, according to Watson.

“No I’ve never actually seen one,” Watson said of the pink.

“There’s no doubt the best preparation will be playing that game. It’s not until we actually play a game that we’ll really know whether it’s a great thing for world cricket.”

Haddin might be as old school as they come but he urged teammates to embrace being part of history.

“It’s always exciting to be involved in something new,” he said.

Smith believes the concept will be a success.

“Hopefully it’ll bring in the crowds,” he said.

“They tested the pink ball out at Adelaide Oval (in Shield game) … it looked like it played pretty well. The reports from the game were pretty positive.

“That’s the way the game is going, it’s developing every day.”