The Marylebone Cricket Club first introduced the pink ball in 2009. It was mainly used in day-night test matches. The groundbreaking move was intended to enhance visibility under artificial lighting at various venues, as the red ball is difficult to spot when playing under lights.
However, according to a recent report by Phys.org, there have been studies which indicate that the usage of the pink ball instead can cause a reduction in the players’ ability to gauge the speed of the delivery when it becomes a bit dark, particularly at sunset. The pink ball is almost equal in brightness to three elements – sky, pitch, and field at sunset. When the contrast is very thin, the reflexes and perception of the human brain have been reported to be decreased, and things might appear slower than they are.
There is also a factor of the appearance of coloured objects to consider here. Relative to the verdant grass cover and straw-coloured pitches, a pink ball will seem to get brighter as the lighting shifts from that during midday to a crimson descending sun. However, this particular dynamic flips over as soon as natural light is replaced by stadium floodlights’ radiance.
Another critical detail to note is that the ball might get lost while overlapping with the various colours of attire which a typical crowd congregated at a cricketing venue wears. The tests conducted by representatives of the aforementioned organization at the Gabba during one of the Sheffield Shield matches also pointed to a lack of visibility from the square-leg umpire’s view. About 10% of males including Australian wicketkeeper-batter, Matthew Wade, suffer from colour blindness, which further poses a need for investigation into the prospect of day-night Tests.
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A long-term solution to this dilemma would probably be to make use of a better-coloured ball for the purpose of maximising the differences in colour of the ball and its surroundings. It all depends on the International Cricket Council and the modifications they bring to pink-ball games.
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