Pink ball manufacturer Kookaburra has hit back in response to recent criticism, insisting its innovation is Test standard and represents a "subtle" change for cricketers.
The inaugural day-night Test starts at Adelaide Oval on November 27, a million-dollar carrot having swayed Australia and New Zealand players to sign up.
Scepticism and criticism has been prevalent since, some of it coming from Cricket Australia's most high-profile employees.
Adam Voges and Peter Siddle were both frank after the recent Prime Minister's XI fixture, the former saying the ball was "more green than pink by the end".
Cricket Australia pointed to an abrasive Manuka Oval pitch as the cause for that consternation, expecting the ball to hold up better in this week's Sheffield Shield round.
Kookaburra managing director Brett Elliott suggested no cricket ball had gone through the level of testing and development that the pink ball has.
"It is as close to the red ball as we could make it," Elliott said.
"Players have become very skilled at adapting to the different playing conditions around the world.
"In England, they have to get used to the different pitches and weather conditions and the Duke ball.
"In India they play in completely different conditions again and use an SG ball.
"The pink ball is probably the most insignificant or the most subtle change that they've had to deal with, because in essence it's just a replication of the red."
That certainly wasn't the case in Canberra.
"We're not reading too much into the condition of the ball during the Prime Minister's XI match," CA's head of cricket operations Sean Cary said.
"We know the Manuka wicket is very abrasive."
Test stars will have a chance to test the pink pill out in the day-night Sheffield Shield round that starts on Wednesday.
Games are being played in Adelaide, Melbourne and Hobart.
New skipper Steve Smith was predictably diplomatic on the weekend when asked about the change to cricket's oldest format.
"It's really exciting," Smith said.
However, a former Australia captain sitting outside CA's tent shared the sentiment.
"Test cricket is withering away in a lot of countries; Australia and England are the only two places where people watch Test matches," Steve Waugh told radio station Triple M.
"Day-night will bring people back to the game.
"We've got to get over the fact it might not be a perfect ball ... once we play one day-night Test people will be saying 'what were we worrying about?'."
Share
