England test skipper Alastair Cook has joined his Australian counterpart Steve Smith in rejecting the idea of Test matches in future Ashes series being played under floodlights with the pink ball.
After tasting huge success in the inaugural day-night test between Australia and New Zealand last year, both boards are contemplating the idea of playing day-night fixture as part of England’s Ashes tour in 2017-18.
Speaking after it was confirmed that Australia will face South Africa in a day-night test this November, Steve Smith expressed his excitement to play the match but at the same time warned the officials against overdosing on the format and called for the Ashes matches to be played exclusively as day matches.
And echoing Smith’s sentiments, Cook said: “A lot of the games have really good attendances, so I don’t think that’s a series where you need to do it at this precise moment in time.”
Cook suggested the cricket bodies to carry on with the experiment but at the same time expressed his concern over the quality of the pink ball.
He added: “I think my general view of day-night Test cricket is that there is definitely something there that the ICC can keep looking at because it moves the game forward with timing and allows more people to come and watch.
“The biggest problem I have with it is the quality of the pink ball. I don’t mean any disrespect to those making it, but on the two occasions I have played with it, it didn’t behave the same way as the red ball.
“That is one of the great things about Test cricket, the ball. Sometimes it swings conventionally, sometimes it doesn’t and sometimes it reverses. The pink ball I played with didn’t do anything like that.”