Day-night Tests: 'Important not to lose wickets in the evening'; player reactions, results and summary of all pink ball matches

Test cricket may be the pinnacle of the sport but time hasn’t been very kind to it. With the advent of other formats like ODIs and T20Is and reducing free-time in life of modern day fans, Test cricket and it’s popularity has taken a beating. And this gave rise to day/night Tests. The idea behind delayed start is to have more office goers, families, fans into the stadium.

And so day/night Test a.k.a pink-ball Test took off almost four years ago, in this same month, in Australia when the host team took on New Zealand. So, far we have had 11 matches with most of the major teams participating. But day/night Test has a major milestone coming up, the undisputed leaders of the sport – India are going to make their pink-ball Test debut on 22 November in Kolkata against Bangladesh, who will also be playing their first day/night Test.

So how has the experiment been so far? We take a look at all eleven of those matches, the participants, results and what the players involved in these matches said.

Australia vs New Zealand (27-29 November, 2015)

Result: The hosts defeated the visiting side by three wickets with the match getting over inside three days. Pink ball swings more than usual and so it wreaked havoc in the match. Only two fifties were scored while pacer Josh Hazlewood earned the man of the match award for taking nine wickets in the match.

Who said what:

Steve Smith: “…last couple of days have been amazing, an exceptional event. It’s been great, a bit different from the first two matches dominated by bat, it brought the bowlers into the game, under lights.”

Brendon McCullum: “Was an outstanding game of cricket, completely contrasting to what we had seen previously in the series. The crowd supported it, and as an experiment it went off well.”

Trent Boult: “An exciting few days … It was incredible to be honest (about the day-night Test) disappointing not to win.”

Pakistan vs West Indies (13-17 October, 2016)

Result: Pakistan won by 56 runs. It was a game where big runs were scored including a triple ton by Azhar Ali. And spinners ruled the roost with surface assisting them as leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo took a eight-wicket haul in an innings.

Who said what:

Azhar Ali: “When we play in different conditions we will know what the pink ball does. I really enjoyed batting here. Just played one ball at a time, and I tried to apply myself. Once I got a start, I wanted to make a big score. The wicket was very good. It was quite tough for the bowlers to get wickets.”

Australia vs South Africa (24-27 November, 2016)

Result: Hosts won by seven wickets. This wasn’t as pace dominating as the first one played at the same venue, Adelaide, in 2015. Stephen Cook and Faf du Plessis struck tons but Usman Khawaja’s 145 proved to be match-winning knock.

Who said what:

Faf du Plessis: “Before this series, the questions that we did have about the pink ball and playing day-night cricket often were more skeptical. And now that we have been through it, not so much. I think there’s positive signs going forward. And then it’s great to go around the world and play different conditions. If you can play one Test with pink balls (each series), I think it adds something different to Test cricket.”

Australia vs Pakistan (15-19 December, 2016)

Result: Australia won by 39 runs. A balanced competition where pacers got wickets and batsmen got runs. Most notable were Steve Smith and Asad Shafiq’s centuries.

Who said what:

Steve Smith: “We’ve seen in day-night Tests, wickets fall under lights with the new ball. I’m sure the ratings would have been amazing as well.”

England vs West Indies (17-19 August, 2017)

Result: England won by an innings and 209 runs. It was total domination by England in a match that was played at Birmingham. Alastair Cook made 243 and Joe Root got a century as West Indies never recovered from it. England scored 514 in the 1st innings while Windies only managed 305 in their two innings.

Who said what:

Joe Root: “It’s been a great week, exciting and a bit different and we’ll see where [day-night Tests> go in the future.”

Sri Lanka vs Pakistan (6-10 October, 2017)

Result: Sri Lanka won by 68 runs. A day/night Test victory in their first pink-ball match for Sri Lanka as Dimuth Karunaratne slammed 196. It was a match dominated by spinners in Dubai as Yasir Shah took eight wickets and Dilruwan Perera returned with a five-wicket haul.

Australia vs England (2-6 December, 2017)

Result: Australia won by 120 runs. Shaun Marsh’s 126 set the tone for hosts as they accumulated a big innings total. English batsmen lost their way and also the match. James Anderson and Mitchell Starc took a five-wicket haul each.

South Africa vs Zimbabwe (26-27 December, 2017)

Result: South Africa won by an innings and 120 runs. This match was so lopsided that it got over in two days. Some good bowling but largely because of poor batting from Zimbabwe. Aiden Markram’s 125 helped South Africa score over 300 and it was too much for the opponents. Morne Morkel and Keshav Maharaj took a fifer each.

Who said what:

AB de Villiers: “The ball moves about late in day-night Tests, so it’s important not to lose wickets in the evening. It’s just about having the teams adapt, and understand the structures.”

Graeme Cremer: “We knew it was always going to be tough. When we saw how the ball moved around under the lights, we knew it was tough, especially with their attack.”

New Zealand vs England (22-26 March, 2018)

Result: New Zealand won by an innings and 49 runs. England had a horrific start with Boult taking six wickets as they got out for 58 in first innings. Kane Willaimson and Henry Nicholls’ tons put Kiwis in strong position and three more wickets for Boult in second innings led the hosts to a big win.

West Indies vs Sri Lanka (23-26 June, 2018)

Result: Sri Lanka won by four wickets. A low scoring match which had pacers licking their fingers. Sri Lanka generally rely on spinners to do well but it was pacers Suranga Lakmal and Lahiru Kumara who bowled them to victory. But the match would be remembered for Jason Holder’s heroics as he made 74 in first innings and took nine wickets in the match.

Australia vs Sri Lanka (24-26 January, 2019)

Result: Australia won by an innings and 40 runs. Pat Cummins took eleven wickets in the match. Lakmal got a five-wicket haul as well but Aussies batsmen proved to be way better than Lankans as they won the match.

Who said what:

Pat Cummins: “I think the pink ball helps when it’s swinging around a bit. Makes it a bit easier to get that fuller length. I was really happy with my consistency.”