The 3rd test between Australia and West Indies got over within 3 days as Australia defeat West Indies cheaply by 177-runs with getting them all-out for the second lowest test score in international cricket courtesy of Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland heroics with the Pink dukes ball.
McDonald Questions Surfaces After Rapid Finish in the Pink Ball test
The Australia tour of West Indies has seen bowlers dominating the batter across three test and the final test got over too soon that the first two test. Speaking about the same Australian head coach Andrew McDonald felt that game was over too soon than anticipated.
“It's really difficult to make accurate judgments on both batting units, based upon the surfaces we played on,” McDonald said via The New Ball on SEN Radio. “You take that into the third Test, which is a pink ball, Dukes, on that surface and that game just moved way too fast and at times didn't even look like cricket.” as quoted by Wisden Cricket.
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Further, Andrew McDonald opened up about the decision to leave out their top spinner, Nathan Lyon — a call made after analyzing data related to the pink Dukes ball, particularly how it behaves under lights.
“Anytime you're leaving out the quality of Nathan Lyon, you'd want some compelling information to take you down that path. And it's not too often that we have compelling information to take us down that path, but we trained for three days leading up to the Test match with the pink Dukes ball."
Unpredictable Pink Dukes and Difficult Surfaces Raise Concerns for McDonald
McDonald also expressed concern about the pink Dukes ball's unpredictable behavior under lights. He noted that some deliveries from Mitchell Starc behaved unusually, raising doubts about whether the ball is suitable for Test cricket.
“We investigated what the pink Dukes ball does, in terms of data points, and it was compelling. That cricket was borderline impossible to play at certain stages. Some of those deliveries from Mitchell Starc, the way that ball behaved under lights ... and so it's a bigger question for what the pink Dukes ball looks like for Test match cricket, really.”
Also Read: Pink Ball Master Starc Creates History with 5-Wicket Haul in 2.3 Overs on 100th Test
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McDonald added that the surface in the West Indies behaved more strangely than anticipated, and with the Dukes ball generating extra seam movement, conditions were even more challenging.
“We do play with Dukes balls over here [in the West Indies], so that does create more seam movement by just the nature of the ball. But yeah, the surfaces did surprise. We felt like there'd be a lot more top order runs and then the games going deeper.” he concluded.
Also read: IND vs ENG: “Learnings Make You Stronger” - KL Rahul Reflects After Lord’s Test Defeat
