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Joe Root has questioned the need for a pink-ball Test in the Ashes as England gear up for Thursday’s crucial day/night game at Brisbane’s Gabba – a venue where they have not won for nearly 40 years.
In comments that will no doubt be portrayed in some quarters as the work of a ‘whingeing Pom’, Root triggered a perfectly valid debate about the imbalance of floodlit Test fixtures since Australia staged the first such game, against New Zealand at Adelaide a decade ago.
In all, the Australians have hosted 13 of Test cricket’s 24 pink-ball matches, 10 more than India, who are next on the list. And for those who argue the format can be a lottery, depending on whether you bat or bowl under lights, Australia have won 12 of those games, plus their lone away fixture, when they bowled out West Indies for 27 in Kingston in July.
England, by contrast, have played just seven floodlit Tests, of which six have been abroad, and three in Australia. They have won only twice, including their only home match, against West Indies at Edgbaston in 2017, and against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui in February 2023.
Asked if he liked pink-ball cricket, Root replied: ‘I don’t mind it. I mean, I don’t think it’s as good as traditional Test cricket. But it’s in the schedule, and we’ve got to play it – and to make sure we’re better than them at it.’
Pushed on whether the Ashes really needed a day/night game, he said: ‘I personally don’t think so. It does add to things. It’s obviously very successful and popular here, and Australia have got a very good record here as well. You can see why we’re playing one of those games.
Root triggered a perfectly valid debate about the imbalance of floodlit Test fixtures since Australia staged the first such game, against New Zealand at Adelaide a decade ago
Pushed on whether the Ashes really needed a day/night game, said: ‘I personally don’t think so. It’s obviously very successful and popular here, and Australia have got a very good record.'
‘Ultimately, you know from two years out it is going to be there. It’s part and parcel of making sure you’re ready for it. A series like this, does it need it? I don’t think so, but it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be here either.’
Seven of England’s likely starting XI at Brisbane have pink-ball experience, though three of those – Jofra Archer, Harry Brook and Ben Duckett – have played only one day/nighter. Root has appeared in all seven of England’s games, and Ben Stokes in six. Ollie Pope (four) and Zak Crawley (three) are the others.
Mitchell Starc, by contrast, has played in all 14 of Australia’s matches, taking 81 wickets at 17, and Steve Smith in 13. Marnus Labuschagne, meanwhile, has averaged 63, with four hundreds. England’s leading pink-ball wicket-taker? Root himself, with nine.
The numbers do little to dispel a nagging doubt: England will almost certainly have to play above themselves to square the series, in conditions of which they have little experience, and at a ground where they have lost seven and won none of their last nine Tests.
To add another layer of difficulty, the sun sets in Brisbane at 6.30pm, so the lights will come on around half an hour earlier, and that means roughly half the game’s overs will feel like night as much as day. England will have to adapt on the hoof, especially if Starc is swinging it around corners. Root, one of England’s two pink-ball centurions, along with Alastair Cook, at least sounded alive to the danger.
‘It’s just being aware how quickly conditions and the situation can change, and being the first to respond to that,’ he said. ‘It’s recognising those moments within games and understanding when to be able to absorb a little bit of pressure, but also when to put pressure back on as well.’
As if the second Test needed any more subplots, Root’s own performance will, one way or another, provide it. Dismissed twice by Starc at Perth – a leading edge into the slips for a duck, then playing on for eight – he has had to analyse those failures while putting them to the back of his mind.
‘In the first innings, it was a pretty good ball,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t looking to whip it through square leg or anything like that – it was just one of those things you can get on a lively wicket. In England, that probably doesn’t carry, it drops short with soft hands.
England will have to play above themselves to square the series, in conditions of which they have little experience, and at a ground where they have lost seven of their last nine Tests
‘I actually thought the way I started the second innings, being quite busy and proactive, was the right way to go. I just made a slight error of judgment and it costs you. You could play and miss at that, or it goes between the stumps and keeper for four, and you never think about it again.
‘It’s about having a bit of realism and understanding about where you actually are in the game, and not going really hard at yourself on small mistakes you might make. Of course, you want to learn lessons from it, but you can’t carry that baggage into the rest of the series. It’s really important you’ve got a fresh mind and you’re clear about what’s coming next.’
Root said England had moved on from the disappointment of Perth, where the two-day finish caused a £2m dent in Cricket Australia’s coffers from lost revenue, and has left the authorities nervous about another quick finish at the Gabba. And he insisted Stokes’s side would not fold, as Root’s own teams did on the last two Ashes tours, and Cook’s in 2013-14.
‘This is very different to the previous Ashes teams I’ve played in out here,’ he said. ‘One thing we’ve done previously is respond very well to bad weeks of cricket. When we’ve made mistakes, we’ve come back out and put a really good performance in. That is what I expect us to do this time around.’
The pink ball and the floodlights, Starc and the Gabba may have other ideas.
