Pink-ball experience gives us the edge, insists Labuschagne

Marnus Labuschagne has said Australia’s experience of playing day-night Tests will help them to start the second Ashes Test on Thursday with an inbuilt advantage. England are using a pink ball for the first time in nearly three years.

- Simon Burnton

As well as hosting more day-night Tests than the rest of the world in total, Australia has also scheduled several Sheffield Shield games under lights and with a pink ball, first between 2013 and 2018 and again in the past two seasons.

Cricket Australia’s head of national teams, Ben Oliver, explained when they were reintroduced that they are designed “to enhance the experience for domestic players and best prepare them for the challenges of international cricket”.

“Would I prefer to play [with a] red ball over a pink ball? “ Labuschagne said. “Probably, just because you play with it more, you're used to the colour of the ball, and there’s a few intricate things about the pink ball that make it a bit of a different game.