Cricket should move to using one coloured ball – pink.
Officials and manufacturers have worked hard to develop a ball suitable for day-night Tests. Yes, it can behave differently to a red ball, but there are dozens of variables other than colour that change the behaviour of balls.
The pink ball now has integrity and is fair for all types of players.
It is time to cease using red, white or pink balls for different matches. Each ball requires players to train separately and adjust, but playing with one coloured ball across all formats solves this problem.
The red ball has been used for over 100 years and I will be sad to see it go, but it is difficult to see at dusk and under artificial light, seeing first-class and Test matches end prematurely due to bad light.
The pink ball solves this.
The white ball offers great visibility, but it discolours, softens and ages quickly, leading to all sorts of playing-condition compromises.
The pink ball solves this.
Using the pink ball in all matches will ensure that players and spectators never again have to contend with play ending prematurely due to bad light, crazy playing conditions that compromise the 50-over game, or having to train differently to prepare for different coloured balls.
Deir-ba-zor
Guest
So you want to throw out a hundred years of tradition to introduce a ball completely unproven on pitches that were not of a very high standard. horrible idea.
Aransan
Guest
Harvey probably only played with the traditional ball. I am colour blind and I have a broken knuckle from playing cricket to prove it. I am close to red blind so the cricket ball is close to black in terms of contrast, a full toss on a ground without a sight screen resulted in my knuckle being jammed into the bat handle after I lost sight of the ball. Chris Rogers is colour blind and the pink ball was a problem for him: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/nov/07/chris-rogers-pink-ball-colour-blind
AGordon
Guest
Neil Harvey was colourblind and his comment at the end of his career was priceless "I wasn't worried what colour the ball was, but rather what it was doing and where could I hit it".
Aransan
Guest
Will the pink ball knock out colourblind batsmen -- about 10% of males are colourblind.
AGordon
Guest
This might be an option at first class level, but the current pink balls are still below par compared to red balls in particular. Both pink and white balls discolour quite quickly and there is no guarantee the current pink ball would stand up to 80 overs of Test cricket. To date, the pink ball has only be used on pitches hat are relatively "friendly" to the ball. This has to be tried and proven in all conditions, especially on really abrasive pitches. I suspect the pink ball would be lucky to last 20 overs which is unacceptable. Remember, it took well over 80 years to get the red ball to an acceptable stage, so it's safe to guess it will take companies the same amount of time to get the pink ball right Then there is the question of cost. How much does a pink ball cost, bearing in mind of your suggestion happens, ALL grades of cricket would need to use pink balls. If it is even a few dollars more than a red ball, many cricket clubs would struggle with the additional costs. Having one colour for the ball makes sense but I don't think I'll see that in my life time, or my kids life times for that matter
Basil
Guest
It is a decent argument but will never happen.