'Might be a few things going on' as Sabina Park makes pink-ball debut

The series between West Indies and Australia has been dominated by the bowlers and it would be no surprise if that were to continue at Sabina Park as the teams prepare for the ground's first day-night Test.

It will be just the second pink-ball Test staged in the Caribbean after the match featuring Sri Lanka in Barbados in 2018, which was a low-scoring contest that only went into the fourth day because of rain.

This Test match is being played with a Dukes ball, with both teams having just one training session with the pink ball under lights. It is Australia's first day-night Test away from home, where they have played 13, their only defeat coming against West Indies at the Gabba in 2024.

"There might be a few things going on at night with the pink Dukes," Mitchell Starc said, having batted against it on Wednesday. "It's a new one for us as a group. I think Usman [Khawaja] is the only one who's played with a pink Dukes, and it was an English Dukes, and he said the county game went for a day-and-a-half."

Starc added that the Australia top-order batters had reported "swing and nip" during training and, albeit over a limited time span, the balls had retained their hardness. There have been a considerable number of ball changes during this series with the red Dukes going soft and out of shape.

When it comes to bowling, Starc is the master of pink-ball cricket, having taken 74 wickets at 18.14. He plays his 100th Test in Jamaica and needs five wickets to reach 400. "I don't think it's poetic, but it's quite funny that I'm playing [the] 100th in a pink-ball game."

Starc noted that the pitch looked the most even of the series to date where variable bounce and significant seam movement have been a feature in both Barbados and Grenada.

"It looks like it's probably the most even covering of grass we've had," he said. "It's a bit of a lottery to see what the wickets do, but at first look it looks the best of the three."

The installation of the floodlights was only completed close to deadline after having faced numerous delays. They are built to a lower height than many around the world, but the brightness (Lux) levels reach or exceed all the requirements. There are a couple of slightly darker areas in pockets near the boundaries in front of Kingston Cricket Club and at the Courtney Walsh End, but the Australians didn't have any significant problems.

"Not anything too dark," Starc said. "Just the different levels of lights were something that people were getting used to. But, overall, I think pretty good."

West Indies have played five previous day-night Tests, their only victory being the one against Australia last year. At most, they will have four survivors from that match. Their only century in a pink-ball Test was made by Darren Bravo against Pakistan in 2016. This current series has yet to see a three-figure score with Brandon King's 75 the highest individual score to date.

"It's a challenge, but an exciting challenge," King, who is from Jamaica, said of the day-night Test. "It's something I'm looking forward to. You want to play against the best in any arena that you're in. They've played the most pink-ball games, so they're very experienced

"Sabina Park is usually a decent wicket. It's usually a balanced wicket, something for the bowlers, something for the batters. And that's what you want. Obviously, the previous two [Tests] were very challenging [for the batters]."

The previous Test at the venue, against Bangladesh last year, produced a highest innings total of 268. Pace dominated for the majority of the match before left-arm spinner Taijul Islam took five in West Indies' second innings to secure the visitors' victory.