7-0 reads the record of Australia in day/night Tests. Undefeated heading into Adelaide, let’s look at how the Aussies have kept their perfect record in such good shape.
Home Sweet Home
14 day/night Tests have been played since their birth in 2015, and in only 2 of them have the away team won. Yes, Sri Lanka are the only team to win away, and are the owners of both of these wins.
In line with factors I shall touch on later, the pink ball game is very much like the red ball game on steroids. Thus, it should be no surprise that home advantage is that bit more prevalent. Home advantage that the Aussies have made the most of, as they have never played in an away D/N Test.
In all fairness, this is a fairly unsexy point of conversation, but it should be noted that being at home seems to massively help.
Swing When You’re Winning
Earlier I alluded to the idea that the pink ball brings out the extremities of the red ball. The main application of this comes in the art of swing bowling. A new red ball swings, and a new pink ball really swings.
Before this claim raises any eyebrows, I’d like to thank the magical world of Cricket Twitter for substantiating this claim a little. The geniuses over at CricViz had a look at average swing in Australia. The results were as follows.
Overs 1-10 Red Ball: Roughly 0.75 degrees of movement
Overs 1-10 Pink Ball: Roughly 0.9 degrees of movement
That might sound negligible, but I can only imagine that 0.15 degrees feels like a handbrake turn when the ball is coming at circa 90mph.
So that’s all well and good, but does that not apply to the opposition too?
Well, it does, but that brings me on to…
The Holy Trinity
Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins.
Lightning quick, jarringly accurate, very scary fellas. Australia seem to have accumulated the perfect pace attack for D/N conditions. Famously, visibility is a worry for the batsmen under artificial light. Australia very much have the skills to exploit this issue.
To support this notion, you need only look at Mitchell Starc’s record with pink ball in hand. 42 wickets at 19.
It is at this juncture, that I’d like to offer some encouragement for India. Having named Bumrah, Shami, and Yadav, India know what they’re trying to do. Hit the deck hard, clock in some heavy pace. When coupled with Australia’s fragile opening situation, you may be able to expect some early damage to be inflicted.
This series really is a clash of the fast bowling titans. It’s just a shame that Ishant Sharma is absent given his five-fer in India’s last D/N test.
Bowled Gary
In Australian D/N Tests, you have mere mortal spinners, and you have Nathan Lyon.
Spinners not named Nathan Lyon average 49.
Spinners named Nathan Lyon average 25.
This point is really quite simple, but it would be rude not to point it out. Lyon gets results that no other spinners have got in these Test matches. It’s the difference that having one of the greatest ever tends to bring.
Last But Not Least
Australia simply have batsmen who are more used to the conditions. Only three players have 4 half-centuries in D/N Tests, and two are Australians. Indeed, it is unsurprisingly Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne who are up there, joined by Asad Shafiq of Pakistan.
Practice pays off, and the Australians are simply the most well-versed of all.
I wouldn’t rule out an India upset, but the odds are very much favouring an Australia win.
