Pink ball in play to stop bad light delays in Tests this summer

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. “If it is, I’m retiring,” Khawaja said. “The red ball is so distinct. I’ve played white-ball [cricket], I’ve played pink-ball, I’ve played red-ball. They all react so differently.

Nothing reacts like that red ball. How they make it, the dye they put on it. “The red ball is what we grew up playing with,” he added. “The red ball is Test cricket, right? So unless you can find a way to replicate the sun, the lights aren’t 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’t react the same as red. “And this is my argument.

The beauty of Test cricket and what I love about Test cricket is it really hasn’t changed a lot in the last 100 years. I think people maybe are just getting a little bit more impatient. It sucks, but that’s Test cricket, unfortunately. And when it rains or when you have bad light, you just have to cop it.”