Cricket ball can be termed as the main lead in the game. The journey of Test cricket started in 1877 with the red ball but it has reached to pink ball to add more excitement to the traditional format of the game. Team India will now play their first ever day night test with pink cherry.
First pink ball
The first pink ball was produced by Australia’s ball manufacturing company Kookaburra. They tested this new pink ball for many years and then became the foremost option for day night test. The first pink ball was manufactured 10 years ago, but it took five-six years more while testing it.
The first day-night test started on 27 November 2015 with Australia taking on New Zealand in Adelaide. Apart from India and Bangladesh, all the major countries playing Test cricket have played the day-night test.
Why the color pink?
Test cricket is played in a white jersey, so red ball is used in it which enables the clear visibility of it. In the one day International, players wear coloured jersey so white ball is use for clear visibility. Now the use of pink ball in day/night may puzzle many cricket fans.
The reason behind this pink colour was given by Brett Eliot, managing director of Kookaburra company. Eliot said that in the beginning they used many different colors, such as yellow and orange, but the biggest problem in these colored balls was that, it was not camera friendly. The cameraman covering the match had expressed his trouble and said that it was very difficult to capture the orange color on the camera. Pink ball also went through all the process and everything went okay with it.
Why not white ball?
Two new balls are used in one-day Internationals and the biggest reason behind it is that the color of the white ball does not deteriorate quickly and it can be seen easily in the lights. At the same time, in Test cricket, the ball is changed only after every 80 consecutive overs in an innings.
In the day/night test, the players will don the white jersey which puts down the question of playing with a white ball as the visibility factor will again to existence.
Manufacturing process
There is no major difference in the manufacturing process of red and pink balls. From inside, these two balls are of similar, just the difference is their color coating. In terms of bounce, hardness and performance, these two balls are similar. In the red ball, the leather is painted with red paint while it is painted in pink in the day night test ball. However, one difference in the pink ball is that another layer of color is added to it. Because of this, the color of the ball remains bright for a few more interval and the shine remains intact.
It takes 7-8 days to manufacture a pink ball. The red ball uses the normal process of coloring the leather, but the pink ball is coated with several layers of pink, so it takes a week to make. For the first time in cricket, pink ball was used in a one-day match. The match was played between the women’s teams of Australia and England in 2009.
Problems with pink ball
The biggest problem of the pink ball is its color and shape, which proves difficult to maintain, due to which the reverse swing proves to be a far-fetched dream for a pacer. According to the manufacturing company, the color of the red ball is dark, which helps the players to shine the ball and gain swing throughout the day.
