Marnus Labuschagne insists switching to a pink ball should not be cricket’s answer to dealing with bad light, despite concerns from ex-players over upset fans.
Poor light was responsible for two stoppages on the opening day of the third Test between Australia and South Africa in Sydney on Wednesday, with 43 overs lost to the conditions.
Play was halted for two-and-a-half hours in the middle of the day when light became too poor, and while some rain fell it was light that again prevented play from resuming later.
Australia reached 2-147 when the game resumed in the final hour, before light again became an issue four overs later. The prolonged stoppages prompted former Test captain Steve Waugh to lead a chorus of criticism, saying cricket must move with the times.
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Fellow former skipper Allan Border said light rules were too soft, while Waugh’s twin brother Mark said play should continue under floodlights.
Umpires test the light on day one. (Photo by Brett Hemmings – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Test cricket is able to be played with a pink ball under floodlights, but is deemed unsafe with a red ball.
That has prompted past calls for the pink ball to be used in poor light, or in all matches to avoid delays.
“I certainly hope not, because the balls are just so different,” Labuschagne said.
“There is no consistency with the pink ball. There is no consistent swing, everything happens quite erratically.
“The balls are made differently … and react so much differently with spin and pace.”
Labuschagne also said it was significantly different facing a red ball under lights compared to pink, and players could not be expected to stay on.
The Queenslander was the man most disappointed by Wednesday’s scenario, caught behind for 79 off Anrich Nortje on the last ball before umpires ended play.
“Sometimes you feel like you can see (the red ball) really well when it is dark,” he said. “But it wasn’t one of those days. And the red ball under lights, it just doesn’t stand out. It’s quite tough and dull. It’s probably more dangerous for the fielders, because you can’t see it square of the wicket.”
Labuschagne conceded spectators would be turned off by Wednesday’s events, particularly when one attempt to resume play was aborted at the last minute due to light. “I feel for the spectators,” he said.
“I walked back up there when we went (to the boundary) but didn’t go back out, and I said that is the quickest way to lose spectators right there. But the reality of the game is it has to be safe. And when you have two teams bowling fast, you can’t be out there when it is too dark.”
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Thunder thump Scorchers
A well-crafted half-century by Oliver Davies has steered the Sydney Thunder to an impressive six-wicket BBL win against the Perth Scorchers at Optus Stadium.
The Thunder restricted the home side to 9-142 from their 20 overs, then chased down the target (4-143) with three overs to spare on Wednesday night.
Davies made 57 from 47 balls, including four fours and two sixes, leaving his side to get 29 from 31 balls when he holed out to mid-off.
Alex Ross finished the job, blasting an unbeaten 41 off 18 balls, including three fours and three sixes.
To make matters worse for the home side, star seamer Jhye Richardson (2-36 from 3.4 overs) was unable to finish his spell, leaving the ground injured with two balls remaining in his fourth over.
The result drew the Thunder level with the top-of-the-table Scorchers with five wins and snapped Perth’s run of eight wins at Optus Stadium.
The Thunder were in trouble at 2-10 after two overs, with Richardson on a hat-trick after he dismissed international stars Alex Hales and Rilee Rossouw for no score.
But Davies joined Matthew Gilkes (32) at the crease, with the pair putting on a crucial 67-run partnership from 53 balls.
The Scorchers were 4-47 after 10 overs, but the visitors threw off their early struggles to move to 2-75 at the same point of their innings, needing 68 runs from the remaining 60 deliveries.
Earlier, Ashton Turner was the only Perth batter to trouble the Thunder bowlers, with the skipper belting 61 from 37 balls.
The Scorchers were in trouble early after winning the bat flip, the home side reeling at 2-10 after the first four power play overs, with their first boundary coming off the fourth ball of the fifth over.
In his final appearance of the tournament, South African star Faf du Plessis (1) went cheaply, caught at third man after he top-edged a ramp shot.
It continued a lean run at Optus Stadium for the former Test skipper, who made scores of 14, 6, 3 and 1 in front of home fans to finish with a total of 163 runs, including a high score of 68, from his seven innings.
Oliver Davies’ younger brother Joel also made his BBL debut and was never far from the action, catching Cameron Bancroft (2) and Nick Hobson (16) and firing searing balls in from the deep that saw Adam Lyth (11) and Matt Kelly (17) run out.
Chris Green (1-15 from four overs) was economical, while Nathan McAndrew (3-29 from four) removed danger man Turner as he accelerated toward the back end of the innings.
Sixers-Heat washed out
Big-hitting cameos from Brisbane Heat’s Colin Munro and Michael Neser, and a typically clever spin stint from veteran Sydney Sixer Steve O’Keefe counted for little as rain forced the first no result of 2022-23’s BBL.
The Heat scored 6-147 off a reduced quota of 13 overs after the game at North Sydney Oval on Wednesday started 65 minutes late.
Persistent drizzle returned near the end of the Brisbane innings and did not stop in time to allow play to resume.
Munro (38 off 14 balls) and Neser (45no off 18) provided the momentum at the beginning and end of the Heat innings respectively.
In between they lost 6-50, with 38-year-old slow left-arm tweaker O’Keefe (3-26 off three overs) the chief architect of Brisbane’s mid-innings wobble.
Watched by a big crowd, Heat’s hitters plundered 11 fours and as many sixes over the short boundaries at North Sydney Oval.
New Zealand import Munro belted six sixes in an explosive cameo as Brisbane bashed 29 off their two powerplay overs. The Heat hoisted seven sixes before hitting their first four off the bat.
Munro hit maximums off two of the first three balls of the innings off Ben Dwarshuis and then struck legside sixes off successive balls in overs from Sean Abbott and O’Keefe.
Veteran spinner O’Keefe, back after three games out with a hamstring injury, triggered a Heat collapse by getting Munro to glove a reverse sweep up to wicketkeeper Josh Philippe.
Neser and Nathan McSweeney (28no off 20) wrested back the initiative for Brisbane with a quickfire seventh wicket stand of 56, as the rain returned and prevented the Sixers’ run chase.
“I was seeing them a bit better than in the last couple of games,” Neser told Fox Cricket after his highest T20 score.
“Boof (coach Darren Lehmann) told me, ‘Keep it simple mate, just watch the ball and stay still’, so I gave it a crack and thankfully it paid off today.
“It was a beautiful wicket out there, as soon as the rain came about the ball skidded on a bit, so it was a nice surface to bat on.”
O’Keefe bowled eight dot balls as he helped drag the Sixers back into the match after Munro pummelled them in the early overs.
“It was a tough night,” he said. “It just seems that when the boundaries are that small it takes out a lot of your variations – not that I have a lot.
“But you’ve just got to try not to bowl the same ball twice and hope that Colin Munro misses one. With a bit of age you just keep your composure.”
Shakeel ton puts Pakistan back in contest
Pakistan have ridden on Saud Shakeel’s patient first Test century and Safaraz Ahmed’s aggressive 78 to trail New Zealand by just 42 runs after the third day of the second Test.
Left-hander Shakeel batted throughout the whole of Wednesday to finish unbeaten on 124 off 336 balls in an innings which spanned more than eight hours before New Zealand spinners hit back late with four wickets to leave Pakistan at 9-407 at stumps.
“When I entered the 90s, I got nervous for one, two overs, but Sarfaraz told me, ‘don’t take tension’,” Shakeel said after raising his maiden Test hundred in his hometown and hitting 17 fours.
“Sarfaraz is a very senior player, I started my career with him. It was good that he was with me when I scored my century.”
Leftarm spinner Ajaz Patel (3-88) chipped away in the final session with the wickets of Agha Salman (41) and Hasan Ali (4) through juggling catches by Michael Bracewell and Devon Conway.
Legspinner Ish Sodhi (2-94) had Naseem Shah and Mir Hamza clean bowled off successive deliveries, but Abrar Ahmed avoided the hat-trick ball with an umbrella of fielders surrounding him and was yet to get off the mark.
New Zealand could have exposed Pakistan’s long tail early after tea still leading by 100 runs, but Tom Latham dropped a regulation catch of Shakeel’s lose drive at short point much to the disappointment of skipper Tim Southee (1-62).
Earlier, Shakeel and Sarfaraz kept New Zealand at bay with their determined 150-run stand in three hours after Pakistan lost the sole wicket of Imam-ul-Haq in a quiet first session.
Mitchell came close to dismissing Sarfaraz off his first ball late in the second session, but the batter successfully overturned umpire Alex Wharf’s lbw ruling through television referral.
But two balls later, Tom Blundell had him stumped after collecting the ball down the legside.
TV umpire Ahsan Raza felt Sarfaraz’s heel was not grounded in the crease when Blundell whipped the bails off.
Sarfaraz hit 10 boundaries and faced 109 balls as he continued to dominate New Zealand bowlers after scoring two half centuries in his comeback Test after almost four years last week.
Shakeel showed plenty of patience but accelerated once he completed his half century off 173 balls after lunch.
He reached 99 with a swept boundary against offspinner Bracewell and then ran a quick single to mid-off to raise his memorable maiden hundred off 240 balls with 14 boundaries.
Imam followed his 96 in the opening Test with 83. Hitting 10 fours and a six, he batted for just over four hours.
The Roarhttps://https://ift.tt/kPNg6Gm News: Pink ball won’t fix light woes – Marnus, Thunder thump Scorchers, Sixers-Heat washed out, Pakistan hit back
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