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Day-night first-class cricket became a fixture of the Australian summer four years ago, so which players have shone and which ones have struggled across these pink ball matches?
I crunched the numbers and found that Nathan Lyon, Cameron Bancroft and David Warner have been below their best in pink ball cricket (Sheffield Shield and Tests).
Meanwhile, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood have run amok with the pink ball, and Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb and Steve Smith have dominated day-night matches, each averaging more than 50 with the bat.
England’s batsmen won’t like to hear that first fact, given that Starc and Hazlewood combined for ten wickets in the first Test despite looking generously rusty.
Starc’s record with the pink ball is downright terrifying, having hoarded 42 wickets at an average of 17 from just six matches. He was Australia’s best bowler in their most recent day-night Test, against Pakistan in Brisbane last summer, grabbing seven wickets, six of which were of top seven batsmen.
(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
A month ago, Starc dismantled South Australia with a ten-wicket haul under lights at Adelaide in the Sheffield Shield. Hazlewood was absent from that Shield match but his pink ball stats are equally intimidating, with 33 wickets at 18 from six matches.
Hazlewood has been Australia’s best bowler in both of their day-night Tests at Adelaide. He was man-of-the match in the inaugural pink ball Test against New Zealand two years ago, snaring nine wickets, and backed that up with a match haul of 6-109 last summer against South Africa.
Hazlewood exploits the extra juice typically present in pitches for day-night matches, getting significant seam movement, while Starc has shown an ability to swing the pink ball while new or weathered. There is no surprise that the world’s best Test batsman Steve Smith has an incredible record against the pink ball. From six matches he has churned out 749 runs at 68, a haul which includes 357 runs at 59 from three day-night Tests.
While Smith has flourished in those matches, Warner has laboured. His overall first-class record in day-night matches are solid – 506 runs at 42 – but in Australia’s three pink ball Tests he’s been poor, with 138 runs at 23. Warner is yet to register a half century from six innings in day-night Tests.
Fortunately for Australia, their first drop Khawaja has filled the breach, batting brilliantly in his two pink ball Tests. No Australian batsman has scored more first-class runs against the pink ball than Khawaja, who has made 802 runs at 62 from seven matches.
That includes one of the finest hundreds made by an Australian of the past decade, Khawaja’s imperious 145 as a stand-in opener last summer against a rampant South African attack. He followed that up with a sprightly 74 in the second innings of the day-night Test against Pakistan.
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In that Test Peter Handscomb scored 105 and 35no, after having made a strong debut in the pink ball Test against South Africa with 54 and 1no. He is second only to Khawaja for the most runs made by an Australian in pink ball cricket, with 760 runs at 54 from nine matches. That also makes Handscomb the most experienced pink ball cricketer in the Australian Test team.
Test number six Shaun Marsh has only played five pink ball matches, but has done well with 435 runs at 48, including a crucial 49 during a difficult chase in the day-night Test against the Kiwis. Pace dynamo Pat Cummins is the least experienced pink ball cricketer in the Australian line-up, having played just one match in which he took 2-93.
New wicketkeeper Tim Paine isn’t greatly more experienced, with just three pink ball matches to his name for a return of 136 runs at 27. Arguably the two Test players with the worst pink ball records are Nathan Lyon (21 wickets at 30 from seven matches) and Cameron Bancroft (397 runs at 30).
(photo: AAP)
Opener Bancroft has knocks of 144 and 97 to his name in day-night cricket, but since the former innings he has been out of nick against the pink ball making scores of 20, 17, 16, 23, 18 and 17, a sequence of wasted starts.
Lyon’s pink ball record meanwhile, is solid but unspectacular, especially compared to those of Starc and Hazlewood. In three pink-ball Tests he has taken just nine wickets at 36.
The off spinner is in the form of his life so he may well produce his first standout performance in the second Ashes Test. It is Starc and Hazlewood, however, with their phenomenal pink ball records, who will most concern England.
Pink ball first-class cricket stats
Cameron Bancroft – 397 runs at 30 from seven matches
David Warner – 506 runs at 42 from six matches
Usman Khawaja – 802 runs at 62 from seven matches
Steve Smith -749 runs at 68 from six matches
Peter Handscomb – 760 runs at 54 from nine matches
Shaun Marsh – 435 runs at 48 from five matches
Tim Paine – 136 runs at 27 from three matches
Pat Cummins – 2 wickets at 46 from one match
Mitchell Starc – 42 wickets at 17 from seven matches
Josh Hazlewood – 33 wickets at 18 from six matches
Nathan Lyon – 21 wickets at 30 from seven matches
Domestic stars in pink ball cricket
Jackson Bird – 31 wickets at 25 from six matches
Jason Behrendorff – 23 wickets at 17 from four matches
Chadd Saters – 23 wickets at 20 from five matches
Marcus Stoinis – 419 runs at 42 from six matches.
Hilton Cartwright 282 runs at 56.4 from four matches
Kurtis Patterson – 456 runs at 42 from six matches