Bresnan not in the pink over new ball

FORMER England bowler Tim Bresnan believes the pink Dukes ball used for the first-ever round of day-night fixtures in the Specsavers County Championship is inferior to its red equivalent.

While 96 wickets tumbled across nine matches on a historic day for England’s domestic first-class competition, Surrey’s batsmen cashed in against Yorkshire by scoring 374-6 at Leeds.

And White Rose seamer Bresnan was left unimpressed by what he perceives to be a largely ineffective pink ball, which he insists offers little for bowlers as it gets older as he was left pining for its crimson cousin.

Bresnan, who took 1-69, said: “It’s definitely harder work with the pink ball. The red one always keeps you in the game because you can shine it up and swing it well into the 60th over.

“With the pink one, as soon as it stops swinging you’re not getting it back. If they can improve the ball, make it harder for longer, that would make it more interesting, or better for the bowling unit anyway.

“Once the hardness wore off it felt like a one-day game in white clothes because it was like bowling with the white ball, no swing and no real seam.”

All fixtures exceeded 90 overs of play in a round that was scheduled to give England players practice of the pink ball and conditions for the first day-night Test on these shores against West Indies.

However, it was a day to forget for a number of Test stars, chief among them all-rounder Ben Stokes, who was dismissed for a seven-ball duck before conceding 69 runs from 12 wicketless overs in his first game of the season for Durham.

Keaton Jennings made just six as Durham recovered to 197 all out, having collapsed to 18-5 when Stokes departed, before Worcestershire reached 213-4 at stumps at Chester-le-Street.

Haseeb Hameed (17) and Jos Buttler (two) also failed to push their claims for inclusion in England’s Test side as Lancashire were skittled for 273 although James Anderson had Will Porterfield out as Warwickshire closed on 23-1 at Edgbaston.