{"id":357507,"date":"2024-01-04T19:55:43","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T20:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=357507"},"modified":"2024-01-04T23:03:33","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T23:03:33","slug":"i-will-retire-khawaja-smacks-down-pink-ball-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=357507","title":{"rendered":"'I will retire': Khawaja smacks down pink ball calls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Usman Khawaja<\/a> has vowed he would retire if the pink ball was ever introduced as a permanent replacement in Test cricket<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The pink-versus-red ball debate was reignited on Thursday after play on day two of the third Test<\/a> between Australia<\/a> and Pakistan<\/a> at the SCG<\/a> was suspended due to bad light shortly before 2.30pm local time.<\/p>\n

Several greats, including former England<\/a> skipper Michael Vaughan<\/a>, have called for the introduction of the pink ball permanently<\/a> in a bid to avoid "frustrating" bad light stoppages.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Ex-Aussie skipper calls quits on title-winning career<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Wake-up call': Cricket boss' promise amid T20 crisis<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Demon's historic ranking rise a 'certainty'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

But speaking to media following the conclusion of play, Khawaja said Test cricket was the red ball, and it reacted much differently to the pink and even the white, which has been used in one-day matches for decades.<\/p>\n

\"Usman<\/p>\n

"If it is,\u00a0I'm retiring," he said.<\/p>\n

"I personally think it's not (the solution). The red ball is so distinct. I play white ball, I play pink ball, I play red ball and they all react so differently.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Nothing reacts like that red ball. How they make it, the dye they put on it.<\/p>\n

"But I don't make those laws, I don't make those rules."<\/p>\n

Under the playing conditions, effectively the rules of the game, umpires are bound to offer the fielding side the chance to bowl with spinners before coming from the field.<\/p>\n

The umpires did indeed do that, but it's since been revealed neither umpires in the middle had a working light meter in the middle when the offer was made.<\/p>\n

However once one was sourced, their decision was proven correct.<\/p>\n

In an attempt to reduce time lost, tea was taken\ufeff as players came off the field, but rain arrived before play could continue, which eventually brought about an early stumps.<\/p>\n

In commentary for Fox Sports, former England skipper Michael Vaughan led calls for the pink ball to become the Test ball for all matches.<\/p>\n

\"Dark<\/p>\n

He pointed out that batters were equally not comfortable playing with it in daylight and night conditions, but also murky twilight conditions as the artificial light takes over.<\/p>\n

He also offered another potential solution \u2013 substituting the red ball for a pink ball when light was deteriorating.<\/p>\n

"We'll be using a pink ball in Brisbane, can't we get one out that's 47 or 50 overs old and carry on?" he said.<\/p>\n

"If the solution is that we have to play with a coloured ball that can be used in all light, and if we have to play with a pink ball going forward to make sure this doesn't happen, it's down to the game of cricket to come up with those answers."<\/p>\n

\"Shan<\/p>\n

But Australian skipper Pat Cummins said that would impact on the fairness of the game.<\/p>\n

"I'm not sure I'd buy into that. Like anything, it's all about fairness of the game," he told the Fox Sports broadcast during the rain delay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"If you're changing balls around, it's really hard to keep that fair for both teams."<\/p>\n

Khawaja said the pink ball was "a different beast", and no batter or bowler would ever want to use it permanently over the red ball.<\/p>\n

"The red ball reacts way differently off the wicket, feels different off the bat, it acts different out of the hands when the bowlers are bowling," he said.<\/p>\n

"The red ball is what we grow up playing. The red ball is Test cricket.<\/p>\n

\"Rain<\/p>\n

"Unless you can find a way to replicate the sun, the lights aren't the same, the lights shining on a red ball is really hard to see.<\/p>\n

"The pink ball is a lot better, but it doesn't react the same as the red and this is my argument. This is Test cricket."<\/p>\n

Khawaja said one of the beauties of Test cricket was it had remained more or less the same for a century, and suggested the push for a result was more about general impatience across society.<\/p>\n

"It's still bat versus ball, the competition's still there, the wicket still deteriorates (and) the team most disciplined most of the time still wins. It's a long grind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Yeah, there's parts of Test cricket that have changed over the years. But the basic concept of it hasn't.<\/p>\n

\"Finch<\/p>\n

"Whether people are getting a bit more impatient now, I don't know.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I feel like that happens in Shield cricket too \u2013 everyone expects results and draws have kind of gone out of the game in this fast moving world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I think the game hasn't changed. I think people are maybe just getting a little bit more impatient.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"It sucks, but this is Test cricket unfortunately. When it rains or when you have bad light, you just have to cop it."<\/p>\n

Khawaja said he still believed there would be a result in this Test.<\/p>\n

Play on day three will get underway a half-hour earlier at 10am in an attempt to make up for time lost on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Usman Khawaja has vowed he would retire if the pink ball was ever introduced as a permanent replacement in Test cricket. The pink-versus-red ball debate […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":357509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357507"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=357507"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":357518,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357507\/revisions\/357518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/357509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=357507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=357507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=357507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}