So a lot for pink-ball Tests solely suiting the quicks.
Seven years after the introduction of the day-night format, Nathan Lyon is that this week poised to turn into the main Test wicket-taker in Adelaide.
Australia’s offspinner requires another scalp towards West Indies to go previous Shane Warne, after becoming a member of the Test legend on 56 wickets in final 12 months’s win over England.
Remarkably, Lyon’s wickets come at a less expensive fee with a pink ball on the floor, with 24 at a median of 25.12.
Once a curator in Adelaide, Lyon claims a part of that’s all the way down to the additional grass left on the wicket for a pink ball providing extra grip for his tweakers.
“It’s a mixture of everything,” Lyon stated.
“The way Damian (Hough) produces the wicket with the moisture content, the grass levels, the thickness of it.
“It’s all together into an excellent wicket and might be why this venue here’s a world-class main venue.”
The pink ball is also part of it.
While the ball does nothing differently for Lyon, the spinner says batsmen find life harder.
“You speak to the batters and a few batters discover it arduous to choose up the seam at night time,” Lyon stated.
“So doubtlessly (you) bowl a number of extra variations, easy issues like cross seam and stuff, to attempt to maintain the batter guessing.”
The other record of Warne’s Lyon can break in Adelaide is in combination with Steve Smith.
Smith’s two catches in Lyon’s fourth-innings figures of 6-128 in the first Test in Perth brought the pair level with Warne and Mark Taylor’s Australian record, with 51 instances of bowled Lyon, caught Smith.
That in itself is telling given that Lyon spins the ball back into the right-hander, as opposed to the ball going with the edge off the legspinner.
“It is usually a troublesome catch because the ball is spinning into the suitable hander and the sting goes away from the keeper or the slips,” Lyon stated.
“Smithy truly despatched me that message yesterday saying congrats, we’re equal with (Taylor) and Warnie. When you see it like that it’s fairly exceptional.
“I love having Smithy there, and he gives me a lot of feedback on different paces and how the shape is looking.”
