Pink balls to be tested at Lord's

Pink balls will be trialed for the first time at Lord's when MCC takes on Scotland in a One Day International on Monday April 21.

Both Kookaburra and Dukes balls will be tested. A Kookaburra ball has already been used four months ago in Australia in a Twenty20 with favorable results. This will be the first time the Dukes ball will be tried.

The balls manufactured by Kookaburra and Dukes will be used for the entire duration of the match for the first time. The ball will be tested for 50 overs. The team that wins the toss will have the option of using either a Kookaburra or a Dukes ball during its innings. The other ball will be used for the next innings.

The MCC has a long term view of introducing pink balls for county cricket from next year and for all regular One day Internationals thereafter. With this in mind the pink balls are being tested following development in London over the winter. The logic behind this is that the pink balls may be spotted easily by the batsmen and also a fraction earlier as compared to the white balls. This has been proven by initial trials.

The pink balls were first tested in January 2008 when Western Australia faced Queensland in a women's exhibition Twenty20 match at the Gabba.

The pink balls were favored over the white balls as they did not lose their hardness. The white balls tend to go soft as the match progresses.

The only drawback with the pink ball was that the seam does not show up so well.

Monday's trial at Lord's would give further clues as to how well the pink ball would stand in a 50-over One day International in future.