Pink balls on trial at Lord's

Two of the men charged with developing a cricket ball which can last an entire one-day innings have reported encouraging results following its use in a trial match at Lord’s.

MCC took on Scotland at the home cricket in a 50-over friendly where the ball was put through its paces as part of MCC’s investigation to find a more durable ball than the existing white one used in limited-overs cricket.

The white ball has long been a topic for debate with players and officials as it tends to discolour and deteriorate, which results in the ball being changed.

MCC head of cricket John Stephenson, who is one of the men responsible with overseeing the pink ball’s development, was pleased with how it came through a serious examination of its potential.

“Having bowled with the ball, I can say it behaved normally and, in terms of durability, the pink ball lasted the distance,” Stephenson said.

“Some of the dye on the ball did come away, which revealed part of the white underneath, but I think everyone who used it would agree that it is progress.

“Taking things forward, we plan to use the ball in a number of our other MCC matches, University matches and also county second-team games.

“But the real test will be seeing how the ball performs in harsher conditions.

“We need to see how the ball reacts to more abrasive pitches in say the heat of the sub-continent than just on a lush green Lord’s ground in April.

“And of course it is hugely important to see how the ball reacts under floodlights and how it is picked on up television screens.”

Stephenson admitted that regular introduction of the ball into first-class and international cricket is “some way off”, but did not rule out a pink revolution in the future.

“If we find a ball which works which is durable then there is no reason why it could even be used in the longer format.

“We still have a way to go with it, a lot more tests and trials, but we’re very encouraged by the way things went with the pink ball went in the match, although a full introduction is some way off yet.

“I think certainly in club matches where fading light can play a problem - particularly in midweek cricket where it may be difficult to pick up than the darker red ball - it could be really useful.

“Also, in terms of price, I don’t think it would be any more expensive to produce on a mass scale either.”

MCC have also enlisted the help of scientists at Imperial College, London to help solve the problem and work with manufacturers Dukes and Kookaburra who provided the balls for the match at Lord’s.

Dr Anthony Bull from the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College, London is part of the the team helping to develop the ball.

“Obviously it is a major challenge for cricket that the white ball loses its colour and a ball change is necessary during the game, so the pink ball could go some way to solving that problem,” Dr Bull said.

“There should be no huge difference between how the pink ball reacts to normal cricket conditions; it will be probably be closer to how the white ball behaves than the red.

“The red ball is dyed and it goes into the leather. For the pink ball, it is painted on in a very smart way, but therefore it's very similar to the white ball in the way it is achieved.

“Certainly one of the challenges the pink ball faces, because of its colour, is batsman being able to determine the seam position during flight.

“We will continue to work with MCC and test in the laboratory to see how the ball reacts to different surfaces and the ideal thing from a cricket point of view would be to have one ball for all formats of the game.”