‘It is almost like the pink ball has two lives...’

As a new era of day-night cricket arrives in the Specsavers County Championship today, four key stakeholders tell Nick Hoult how they will enter the twilight zone

The player

John Simpson, the Middlesex wicketkeeper, described batting and keeping with the pink ball in Abu Dhabi earlier this year as a strange experience, as if the ball had “two lives”.

Simpson scored 89 as Middlesex beat the MCC in a low-scoring game by one wicket. The new Duke pink ball that will be used this week was trialled for the first time.

“It was interesting,” he said. “From a batting perspective once the ball got a little bit older it became easier to bat against but then that twilight period kicked in and it then started to swing conventionally again.

“It was very strange. It was almost like it had two lives. That twilight dusky period was the toughest time to bat. The lights were not making much of a difference and the sun was going down.

“Teams have to think how they are going to play. Some may tend to be more aggressive against the pink ball in the twilight and take the attack to the bowler to almost counteract the movement.

“There were periods in Abu Dhabi when the MCC looked to be really positive against the moving ball. Others may decide to sit in against it and to wait that period out.

“As a keeper I am used to keeping at Lord’s where the ball is well known to wobble after it passes the batsman. The pink ball in Abu Dhabi I would say wobbled even more than a red one at Lord’s. You have to relax and back your instincts.

“It is going to be a very interesting four days. The weather here will play more of a part and if it is cloudy during that twilight period it could be very difficult [to bat].”

The MCC

The players have to forget about the twilight period and not build it up in their own minds according to the MCC, which has funded research and ploughed many hours into the development of the pink ball.

Since 2010 the MCC has used the Champion County match in Abu Dhabi as a trial base for different pink balls and finally settled on the Duke after it performed well in this New game: MCC’S Joe Clarke in action versus Middlesex in Abu Dhabi last year year’s match. Scientists from Imperial College in London and ball manufacturers across the world have all helped the process. The only downside is that the restrictions on using the lights at Lord’s means that the ground is not hosting a game this week. Middlesex are playing at Chelmsford instead.

“We are really excited and this has taken the best part of 10 years since it was first broached,” said John Stephenson, the MCC’S head of cricket.

“We have experimented with different pitches and balls but we have seen it now happen around the world with a day-night Test in Adelaide after the ICC [International Cricket Council] adopted it. That took a lot of work at ICC committee level. It has been a long old slog but to now see it come through to fruition not just in Australia but also in England is a good feeling. It is nice to see a project come to a head after a lot of work that has been put in and a lot of investment.

“In terms of championship cricket, the time of the year will not get that dark and there will be an extended twilight period, which will be quite interesting. But I think the counties will do it well, the pitches will be good and the Duke ball is a good ball for pink-ball cricket.

“The players have got to get out of their mind anything to do with twilight. If you are in and 60 not out at twilight it is rather easy. It is like any phase of the game, you have difficult patches. This is just a different nuance.

“You cannot ignore the player complaints but let’s face it, if you were inventing cricket now you would not use a dark red ball.

“It is only because we are used to it that we don’t mention the colour. Also, with the white ball in really hot conditions with a white pitch it is not that easy to pick up. There is always something to think about.”

The chief executive

The main reason for this round of championship matches is to give England players experience of using the pink ball before their first day-night Test in August but it has also given county chief executives a chance to market championship cricket to a new audience.

Most counties are offering either free entry or greatly reduced ticket prices after ‘lunch’ (4pm) giving spectators two sessions of play, when the conditions should be the most conducive for producing interesting cricket.

The weather will be crucial. Shivering under a blanket at 9pm is not what the organisers want but the hot spell of last week has broken and there may be some fresh evenings for spectators to endure.

“It is going to be an interesting week and it is a good test of trying to encourage through availability of cricket a different type of person to come to a four-day match,” said Derek Bowden, chief executive of Essex, who will be charging £3 for children after lunch and £10 for

adults. “It will be a good event for those folk who currently come to four-day games but gives us the opportunity to market to an audience after work who want to watch cricket in the same way they do at T20 but are working when championship cricket is being played.

“It is a shame it is not genuinely night but that is the way it is. The game as a whole needs some rejuvenating and scheduling matches that might attract a different audience makes sense. The game needs to try different things to get different people watching cricket.”

Essex will be hoping that Mohammad Amir’s debut tempts

more fans through the turnstiles. At Yorkshire, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow will be making rare appearances for their county and a full roster of England players adds up to the highest quality round of championship cricket this season.

The coach

Tactically this week is going to be a challenge. Coaches will have been looking at the light around dusk over the past week trying to work through tactics. Others have had their players bowling and batting against the pink ball to prepare for a step into the unknown.

Warwickshire play Lancashire and their match will be of

particular interest because Edgbaston is hosting the day-night Test against West Indies in August.

“We had the pink balls out during the last game, we trained under lights on Saturday night, when there was an hour of dusky light, and we trained with a pink ball during the day so we have had two full training sessions at opposite ends of the day to get a look at the pink ball,” said Ashley Giles, Warwickshire’s director of cricket.

“The pink ball has got quite a proud seam and feels like a different ball altogether really. Speaking to Jeets [spinner Jeetan Patel], he thinks it feels more like a white ball. It is a prouder seam and nice to grip.

The lacquer on a new red ball can be tricky for a spinner but he enjoyed bowling with the pink ball.

“I watched some of the Champions game in Abu Dhabi this year and during that twilight period it went around a lot more. Are your tactics going to be different up front? Will you look to score heavier during the day? Will some sides look to declare even if they are seven down just before the twilight period? I don’t know but first we will have to assess it.

“It is exciting. It is important we try something different. It is not going to be dark by the time we finish. I was looking out at 8pm and that bit when it goes a bit dusky it could be a handful.”