Durban: Former South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock has called for teams to use pink balls during Test matches where bad light could become a factor as Proteas eye a massive run-chase on the final day of the Durban Test against Australia, which has seen action abandoned due to bad light.
In the first match of the high-profile three-match series, Proteas is 102/4 while chasing 421 runs ahead of the final day. The first three days of the Test match saw play ending due to bad light and both sides losing what could have been game-changing overs. Only 221 of the 270 allotted overs were completed through to the start of the fourth day, with play extending on Monday as the cloud cover that was present in the afternoon stayed away.
Recently, as part of the playing conditions, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has green-lit the use of pink balls during day Test matches, with the agreement of both captains.
The press release from the ICC stating the new playing condition says, "As a trial, pink balls may be used in daytime Tests by mutual agreement to reduce loss of play due to bad light. The use of a pink ball must be agreed before the start of the Test and once agreed, must apply for the duration of the match. The decision cannot be changed after the match has started. Switching from red to pink ball is also not allowed once the match has commenced."
Pollock, as quoted by Fox Sports, has urged captains "not be scared to use the pink ball" when light could be a regular factor.
“I am not saying for one moment that we should have used the pink ball and played a day-night game. I just believed we should have used the pink ball for the day game,” he said.
“It is not irrelevant because if you use the red one, all of a sudden you cannot play Test cricket past bad light time, but if you use the pink one, you can. And we are going to lose some more overs."
“If this was a final or a game where you had to win to make the World Test Championship final and it was 1-all in the series, and Australia was playing South Africa and you said to them, ‘Let’s use the pink ball because we are going to lose 100 overs to bad light’ do you think they would agree or not agree?," he continued.
Former South African batter Ashwell Prince, now associated with the side as senior assistant coach, had spoken at the end of day three that for him Test cricket "are red ball".
"For me, outside of a day-night Test, it is got to be a red ball,” he said.
“I think obviously some nations have played a lot more pink ball cricket than others and so, therefore, to get both captains to agree is always going to be a challenge."
“To get both captains to agree to that, some teams will feel that they simply do not have enough experience of it, so I think it would be very difficult to get both captains to agree. But for me, you know, Test matches are the red ball," he signed off.
During the chase of 421 runs, Aiden Markram (45*) and Wiaan Mulder (5*) are unbeaten. Australia elected to bat first, reaching 390 courtesy of a marathon 397-ball 190 from Matt Renshaw. Proteas managed 284 in their second innings, with Simon Harmer (35*) and Keshav Maharaj (34) making sure that the deficit was just a little over 100 runs. In their second innings, Australia declared at 314/6, with Renshaw (82 in 99 balls, with seven fours), Nic Maddison (48 in 33 balls, with six fours and two sixes) and skipper Pat Cummins (32* in 12 balls, with four sixes) standing out in a show of aggression from Aussie batters, setting up 421 to win the World Test Champions.