New Zealand vs PM's XI match to be played with pink ball

Pink balls will be used for the tour match between New Zealand and PM’s XI

Pink balls will be used for the match between New Zealand and Prime Minister’s XI, Cricket Australia confirmed on their official website. The Black Caps will take on Australia in the first ever day-night Test match in the history of cricket at the Adelaide Oval in November and it has now been confirmed that the visitors will play their opening tour match with the pink balls that will be used for the Test match.

New Zealand, who are set to play Australia in a bilateral series after a gap of four years, will kick off their tour Down Under at the Manuka Oval, Canberra on October 23 with the one-day match against PM’s XI, which will be led by Michael Hussey. The 40-year-old feels that it will be a good opportunity for some of the Australian Test hopefuls to play with the pink balls before the squad for the three-match series is announced.

Day five of the second Test match between Bangladesh and Australia is scheduled for October 21, just two days before the tour match so it remains to be seen how many members of the actual Test team make it to the side. Hussey though is hopeful that he will get to lead a strong side.

"I'd be happy with that, definitely, let's get them all in there. In think it's not a bad call actually," he said, as reported by The Sunday Morning Herald. “I know there are some players in the Australian team that have never played with a pink ball so it is a good opportunity to have a game with it, so I'm sure that's something that Rod Marsh and the other selectors will be considering."

One player who might feature in the match is bowling spearhead Mitchell Starc, who has made known his apprehensions about the pink ball in the past. The left-arm pace bowler had played for New South Wales in a day-night Sheffield Shield fixture against South Australia at Adelaide, the very same venue where the day-night Test match is scheduled for.

"It doesn't react anything like the red ball, in terms of swing and the hardness of it anyway, Starc had said, according to ESPNCricinfo. “It goes soft pretty quickly, I didn't see a huge amount of reverse swing in that game and I don't think it swung from memory too much until the artificial light took over. It definitely reacts very, very differently to the red ball.”

“The other thing as well is, personally, I couldn't see the thing at night on the boundary. I couldn't see the ball. "But time will tell if it works with the crowds and the viewership and the way that cricketers respond to it,” he said.