Cricket Australia plan coloured-ball trial match

Cricket Australia is planning to trial a variety of coloured balls during a mock match next summer as it pushes forward with its aim of developing day-night Test cricket. The Age reported that players would be asked to take part in a game at the MCG or SCG and Channel Nine would test how the coloured balls showed up on camera.

Finding a suitable ball that is easily visible under lights and behaves like a traditional red ball has been the major stumbling block in plans for day-night Tests. Yellow, lime green and white are among the colours likely to be trialled.

"Ideally, we would like to get some players along, get the cameras along, turn on the lights and see if we can have a game of cricket for an hour," Michael Brown, Cricket Australia's operations manager told the Age. "We're still a fair way away [from a day-night Test] but we're moving forward."

The MCC is also keen to pursue trials of coloured balls and had been hoping that next year's England-Bangladesh Test could have become a day-night game. However, the MCC chief executive Keith Bradshaw said the struggle to find the right ball meant that was now unlikely.

"The reality is we probably won't go to a day-night Test next year, only because we won't have had time to finish the research on the ball and we won't have had time to do the trial with a county match this year," Bradshaw said. "I do think it is only something you would do now and again, and England-Bangladesh to be honest was an attractive Test because the fact is we won't have huge numbers coming to that match."