Mark Craig pleased with pink-ball practice
Offspinner Mark Craig has echoed the words of his team-mate BJ Watling, saying the pink ball behaves more like the white ball than the red
ESPNcricinfo staff
09-Oct-2015
Mark Craig bowls with the pink ball during a training game in Hamilton on October 8 • Getty Images
As New Zealand's pink ball preparations continued in Hamilton in the lead up to the first day-night Test, offspinner Mark Craig has echoed the words of his team-mate BJ Watling, saying this ball behaves more like the white ball than the red. With regards to spin, he said only time would tell if it helps spinners or not, but he found it was easy to grip when new.
"I find it's very similar to the white ball. Once it's nice and new it's quite easy to grip and then it's just like any other ball once it gets a little bit older," Craig said.
Twilight has proved to be one of trickiest times to see the ball, but that was mostly only the case with fielders square of the wicket, Craig said. "I think the side-on guys, guys at point and cover and things like that, for them with the sun setting it was tricky. Behind the wicket wasn't too much different. Just there the boys on the square… The batsmen, by all accounts they found it not too bad, there weren't too many complaints in terms of not being able to see it."
New Zealand were training with the pink ball in Hamilton, late in the evening and transitioning into night, trying to replicate the conditions that they will face in Adelaide come November 27. Craig agreed that the conditions are not quite the same as Hamilton is colder than what they would experience in Adelaide, but he said the training was still "crucial".
"I think being the first of its kind, everyone is on an even playing field, so these two days here are crucial building up to what should be an awesome series," he said. "I think we've got some pink-ball practice in Perth, which is also going to be different to Adelaide. But I think any time you get to play with the pink ball and mimic playing under lights and things like that, it's going to be good for you.
"I think this is what these two days are about, about finding out different ways of using it and finding out how it reacts under the lights, changes in the twilight and things like that. So it's a learning curve for us."