Cricket has never been shy at trying out new innovations to develop the sport - but now they are trying a whole new ball game.
MCC look ahead to whole new ball game
Cricket has never been shy at trying out new innovations to develop the sport - but now they are trying a whole new ball game.
From 'pyjama-style' kits to video technology to the Twenty20 format, cricket has continued to evolve over the years.
But spectators at university and second XI games will be forgiven for doing a double-take next season, with trials of a new pink ball set to begin.
For the past year, the MCC, the guardian of the laws of the sport, have been looking at making the traditional cricket balls more visible.
And the result could now be a change of colour, with the hope that a fluorescent pink ball will be easier to spot - particularly in poor light.
Head of cricket at the MCC, John Stephenson - a former England, Essex and Hampshire opener - told
The Times: "Paint tends to flake off white balls and we have asked Kookaburra to produce a batch of pink ones because these show up so much better.
Retains
"The challenge is to produce a ball which retains its colour - I doubt it will be any more expensive to produce or buy.
"I have asked Mike Gatting, the ECB's managing director of cricket partnerships, to use them in county second XI one-day matches, but we shall start by trying them in fixtures such as MCC v Europe and in the university matches we sponsor."
Initial tests have taken part at the indoor cricket school at Lord's and if the trials in the second XI and university games are successful, the pink ball could well be used in the county game and internationals from 2009.
Stephenson added: "My aim would be to use the pink ball in Twenty20 cricket in 2009 and thereafter in one-day international cricket, but this would be dependent on trials and what the ECB thinks."
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