NEXT IS WHAT: Pink cricket balls!

Think cricket and the most prominent image that comes to the mind, is of a fast bowler steaming in, hurling the bright, round red cherry at a batsman.

Pratik Dogra

Think cricket and the most prominent image that comes to the mind, is of a fast bowler steaming in, in his white flannels, hurling the bright, round red cherry at a batsman. Since eternity, the red cricket ball and a willow bat have been the defining images for the game of cricket. Then came the ODI revolution in the 70s and early 80s, and the game of cricket saw a paradigm shift in its market positioning. From being a connoisseurs’ delight and a sport of the elite, which the 5-day Tests were, one-day cricket brought into the realms of cricket, the masses. The cricket fans of the ODI generations were as loud and boisterous as their, say, footballing counterparts. The passion which the game invoked in the sub-continent, still the game’s prime money-spinner, brought home to ICC the immense marketing potential that the sport possessed. As the 90s dawned, day and night games came into being, and white balls and coloured clothing became the order of the day. Though white balls were first used in the sport when Kerry Packer introduced floodlights at the Sydney Cricket Ground during the second year of World Series Cricket as early as in 1978-79, the 90s saw them become an integral part of one-day cricket.Now, in the post Twenty20 revolution, when question marks are being raised over the very survival of Tests and ODIs, amongst the most dramatic of initiatives that ICC has launched to revive the game, is the possible induction of pink balls into cricket! What the ICC wants is that the ball should be of a more visible hue and for that purpose, pink is being considered…and fluorescent pink at that. As the spectator interest in Test cricket shows signs of decline, ICC feels, and rightly so, the urgency to do away with the irritants that obstruct the smooth flow of a Test match, like bad light, rain-interruptions etc. The ICC hopes that a pink ball will be more easily seen by a batsman than the dark red one, particularly in poor light. A luminous ball may appeal to any in-coming batsmen to the crease, and consequently weed out bad-light as the cause of interruption during the course of play. The idea was tested at an indoor school at Lord’s two years ago to see whether a fluorescent ball can be spotted a fraction of a second earlier. Not surprisingly, the idea doesn’t find favour with the bowlers, who as it is, have a long standing feud with the administrators for making the game so heavily loaded in favour of the batsman! John Stephenson, the MCC`s head of cricket, says: "We have tested pink balls in all forms of the game and our experiments show they are more durable than the white ball and they stand up to the scrutiny of television.” "And with coloured clothing such an emotive issue, pink balls are also compatible with white clothing and black sightscreens. It`s worth trying." While arguing the case for pink balls, Stephenson says: “Paint tends to flake off white balls and we have asked Kookaburra to produce a batch of pink ones because these show up so much better.” “The challenge is to produce a ball which retains its colour. We shall start by trying them in fixtures such as MCC v Europe and in the university matches we sponsor.” But as with every new initiative, here too, there have been a few false starts. Ball manufacturer Kookaburra recently developed a batch of pink balls for Australia to be used in women’s cricket. Even though the properties are same as the traditional balls, its initial tests have shown that they deteriorate too quickly. Prior to pink, Orange balls were tested, but rejected as the televised images seem to be leaving a comet trail in the dark. Experiments with orange balls had begun in the Refuge Assurance Cup in domestic cricket in England in 1989. Even a blue ball was once designed for women’s cricket, but was discontinued. The latest on pink balls is that a high-profile MCC delegation comprising former England opener Geoffrey Boycott, Aussie legend Steve Waugh and our very own Rahul Dravid (all batsmen mind you!), have pushed the case for implementation of pink balls at a recent meeting at Lord`s. And the buzz is that the idea could be implemented by next year itself when England are likely to play the first ever day-night Test in history against Bangladesh next year… under floodlights…and yeah, with pink balls!