David Leggat: Boffins off colour over ball dilemma

Three years ago, to the sound of gleeful rubbing of hands, studies began in earnest to find a ball which could be used in day-night tests.

The traditional red was clearly out of the question.

There are batsmen who struggle to see that in broad daylight, let alone at night.

Orange and white had been tinkered with before the important minds settled on pink as the colour most likely to succeed.

Scientists from London's Imperial College got to work; the MCC asked ball makers Kookaburra to get involved.

It all sounded pretty whiz bang and the idea of bringing the longest form of the international game into a new market was greeted with enthusiasm, albeit laced with a dose of caution, along the lines of "we'll believe it when we see it".

The biggest problem was how to make a ball which retained its colour as does the red.

Fading colour is all very well; it's still red.

The one-day white ball flakes and discolours badly, to the extent a fresh one is required after 34 overs.

In the course of their studies, the scientists at one point tried to impregnate the raw leather with bleach that stayed inside the ball.

This brings Shahid Afridi to mind. Would the Pakistani allrounder have opted to take a chomp at the ball in the ODI in Perth last weekend had he known a healthy dose of the stuff you clean toilets with might find its way to his stomach?

Or even those inclined to vigorously pick at the stitching or leather, before a chew on the fingernails, popular pastime among slips fielders in particular.

Anyway, things pottered along for a while until Cricket Australia decided to give the pink ball a tryout in domestic second level matches this week.

They were on show under lights at Adelaide Oval and in a day game in Brisbane.

The word is that in terms of visibility, they weren't bad; retaining decent condition was another story.

"When the pink ball hits the wicket the paint comes off it," Australian under 19 bowler Alastair McDermott, son of former test quick Craig, said.

The pink ball started to turn white after about 40 overs, he added.

One of the umpires in Adelaide said when standing at square leg it was difficult to follow the flight of the pink ball, making adjudication on waist-high no balls tricky.

(Which is not what umpires need as they seem to find it hard enough making that call with any consistency as things are.)

Kookaburra's managing director Rob Elliot sounded the party pooper this week with a gloomy prediction for those with eyes shining pink with enthusiasm. "In all honesty it could be several years. I don't believe any ball [other than red] has got 80 overs in it," he said, 80 being the requirement in a test innings before a new cherry is available to the bowlers.

Yellow and orange balls were tried in Australia in the 1990s.

Test batsman Simon Katich reckoned the orange version behaved like the red; Elliot said the problem was that on television it gave the appearance of having "comet-like tail that flared and sometimes got lost in the background", which sounds like a job for 3D Avatar-style glasses.

In the back of the mind is the thought that this might be one problem beyond the sharpest minds.

And that's no bad thing either. Night tests? I don't think so. Save it for the shorter games.