ROOT’S MEN THINK PINK

ENGLAND have scheduled an extra practice session under lights ahead of their first home day-night Test, against West Indies at Edgbaston next week. The tourists have already experienced a pink-ball Test, having lost to Pakistan in Dubai in October. But Joe Root’s team are heading into uncharted waters, and will hold a three-hour session in the middle, three days before the game starts on August 17. England usually begin practice for any Test match two days out, but three of their next nine Tests will be floodlit — Edgbaston will be followed by Adelaide in December and Auckland in March — and they are keen to give their players every chance to acclimatise. To complicate matters, the games in Australia and New Zealand will be played with a pink Kookaburra ball, while a pink Dukes will be used in England.

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