Adelaide: Legendary Australia spinner Shane Warne feels red balls should be replaced by pink balls in Test cricket. Warne, reckons pink balls add more value and excitement to Test matches, and should replace the traditional red balls. The leg-spinner also tore apart the legacy of the red-ball, calling it ‘pathetic’ that offers “nothing” to the bowler.
“I’ve been saying this for the last few years. I believe the pink ball should be used in all Test matches. Day games, not just day-night games. The pink ball, you can actually see the ball easier, crowd can see the ball easier. It generally does more than the red ball and it looks fantastic on TV. So why not use a pink ball the whole time? Maybe change it at 60 overs because it goes soft, but I’d be using the pink ball for every Test match so more of it I would say,” Warne was quoted as saying on Fox Cricket.
Calling the red balls ‘rubbish’, Shane Warne has said that red balls don’t swing much for the bowlers with the exception of the Dukes ball or do anything after 25 overs of use.
“No more red ball, it doesn’t swing, it doesn’t do anything, goes soft after 25 overs. It has been pathetic for so long now. Except for the Dukes ball in England, it has been rubbish. The pink ball can’t be any worse than what the red ball has been for Test cricket. We haven’t seen swing, we haven’t seen seam. Absolutely nothing. So let’s try the pink ball in Test cricket,” he added.
India and Australia are involved in a Day-Night encounter at the Adelaide Oval which began Thursday (December 17). On Day 1 of the first Test of the four-match series, India lost their last four wickets after adding just 10 runs to their overnight score in Adelaide.
