Sheffield Shield Round 9, Day 1: The Pink Ball Debuts
Today was a historic day for cricket, as the Pink Ball and the day-night format made their débuts in First Class cricket. Games kicked off at the MCG, Adelaide and the Gabba at about 2pm and continued into the night.
Before we recap each game, lets check out what is being said about the ball and the night cricket.
Note: quotes taken from Cricket Australia live scoring commentary
“The pink ball didn’t seem to act too differently to the standard red ball, but it was easier to see through the air and along the ground. The crowd didn’t appear any larger than usual, and few people stayed until the very end.” – from the commentator at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
“The pink ball was quite easy to spot, so fair to say Day 1 has been a successful for the pink ball brigade.”
“Not a lot of swing all day for the bowlers, batting seemed to be easier under lights, even when the new ball was taken” – from the commentator at the Adelaide Oval.
“The pink balls haven’t moved extravagantly since the opening couple of overs.” – said at the tea break at the Gabba.
Hard to draw any concrete conclusions from that. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Also here is a pic of Western Australia’s pink ball after 80 overs. Hard to get a perfect idea from that, but it looks to have held it’s colour quite well at least.
Wrap up of results on next page
