Queensland captain James Hopes with the much talked about pink balls. Picture: Mark Cranitch. Source: Mark Cranitch / News Corp Australia
CRICKET is a game of nuances and quirks not meant to be played like hard-court tennis or at home on an X-Box.
So let's embrace pink ball cricket and not overreact if this week's round of day-night Sheffield Shield matches are over in quick time.
Why is it such a bad thing if the pink ball swings prolifically in the night session and ball dominates bat? Batsmen have had it too good for too long with bats like tree trunks, short boundaries and just about every rule change in the last two decades designed to favour them.
And there have never been more injuries to long-suffering fast bowlers who are forced to bowl on pitches so flat you could play lawn bowls on them.
Thankfully, Mitchell Johnson donned his Superman cape at the start of the summer and bowled such fast spells that they would have been terrifying even in beach cricket.
And wasn't it fabulous to see bloodied and battered Test skipper Michael Clarke survive a fearful working over from Morne Morkel and courageously emerge with his wits and his wicket intact.
It was a hair-raising duel.
South Australia's Callum Ferguson (R) and Michael Klinger. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: News Corp Australia
Sadly such scenes are few and far between in today's cricket. Cricket would be a better game if there were there were many more spine-tingling ball versus bat contests.
We will see plenty of that this week as Australia's domestic batsmen will have to work extra hard for every run against a pink ball which could hoop around viciously in the 6.30pm-8.30pm session.
There will be plenty of batting collapses around the country and there are predictions the matches, which start on Monday, will be over within three days or may not even make it into a third day.
One Queensland Bulls batsman has been joking that he has purchased extra protective equipment for the Gabba clash against Western Australia. Teammates aren't sure if it is a joke.
Luke Butterworth practicing with the new pink cricket balls at training at Blundstone Arena. Source: News Corp Australia
This week, we will find out which of the next generation of Australian batsmen can cut the mustard in tough batting conditions. It will be good for their development as batsmen and as men. Any batsman who goes into the black book of Australian selectors this week will be there for a long time.
The bold vision behind this week's toe-in-the-water experiment with the pink ball is to play day-night Test cricket, possibly as soon as next year when New Zealand tour here.
Players and fans should get behind this innovative push. While it may not be everyone's cup of tea, day-night games played with brightly coloured balls would open up Test cricket to a whole new audience including many more women and children.
It is just what the game needs, especially in this country. We have just come off a fabulous Ashes summer but the Poms only visit here once every four years and so do South Africa. It means two out of every four summers are hardly mouth-watering contests.
Cricket needs more forward thinking and innovative change. Without it we never would have seen Twenty20 cricket. And 200 runs would still be a par score for 50-over cricket.
Go the pink ball.
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