Neil Harvey, the last surviving member of the legendary 1948 Invincibles, hopes the inaugural day-night pink ball Test will be embraced as he feels it could be the future of Australian cricket.
Now 87, the left-handed batting great, who rarely gets to watch Test cricket live outside Sydney, will be in Adelaide later this month for the historic match.
Coming from an era when different coloured balls and abbreviated formats were unheard of, one might expect Harvey to be critical of such a drastic change but that's not the case.
"I am a traditionalist but I'm also for progress and it is progress," Harvey told AAP.
"If it goes in the right direction, I'm all for it.
"It's all brand new and I just hope the public embrace it and they go and watch it.
"i just hope the pink ball is a great success because if it is, it will be the future of Australian cricket."
He's not such a big fan of Twenty20, the major innovation of the past decade.
"People said I'd be good at it, maybe I would, maybe I wouldn't, it's hard to know," Harvey said.
"But it's an odd game. It's a hit or miss game isn't it? It's all over in a short period of time.
"It gets a new audience which is probably a good thing but I'm pleased I didn't have to play it."
Experience means he remains optimistic about the current Test team despite the rash of recent retirements.
"I was the chairman of selectors when the (Kerry) Packer (World Series cricket) split occurred (in the 1970s)," Harvey said.
"In that one season we found about five Test players straight away, so it didn't take us long and this will be no different."
