Pink ball to be used in County cricket on trial basis

London: Pink-coloured ball will be used for the first time in County Championship cricket on trial basis after the ECB approached Kent and Glamorgan with a proposal to use the ball in their final match of the season.

This particular match has been selected because neither side is in the Division Two promotion race. Both teams have agreed on the proposal for the match, scheduled to be held at Canterbury on September 12. While it will be a day-night affair, players will wear white clothing. This is the latest stage in the trials to determine whether Test matches could be played under floodlights. There have already been various trials, including the annual MCC versus Champion County match which has been staged in Abu Dhabi for the last two seasons and also in Pakistan and West Indian domestic tournaments. Pink balls have also been used in county second XI cricket and university matches, while Cricket Australia will use them on trial basis during this season`s Sheffield Shield. "The venue still needs to have decent lights, somewhere like Lord`s, Sydney or Abu Dhabi. You also need to play it at a venue, and time of year, where dew isn`t going to come in a seven o`clock. You can have the best ball in the world but it would be unfair in those conditions," said Dave Richardson, ICC`s general manager, cricket. PTI