South Africans tipped off conditions being tough during D/N test matches in Australia: James Anderson

With the start of Ashes hardly a fortnight away, preparations within both English and the Australian camps are in full swing. The English have few tour matches in hand, while the Australians are busy playing through the rounds of the Sheffield Shield Trophy before being named into the Ashes squad.

However, England’s premier fast bowler revealed that there’s more than what meets the eye with the Pink Ball Test Cricket in Australia. According to James Anderson, some of the South African players tipped off that conditions during the twilight period with the pink Kookaburra offer extra assistance to the swing bowlers.

“We spoke to the South Africans when we played them in our summer (this year) and they said it was difficult in the twilight period and when the lights came on. So we tried to tap into them for as much information as we could,” claimed James Anderson according to cricket.com.au.

England has played just one Day-Night Test match with the pink ball which occurred recently against West Indies, and that too with the Duke’s ball and not the Kookaburra.

Pink Kookaburra swings more during the Twilight phase in Australia

“We’ve played one pink-ball Test match in England but not with the Kookaburra, so having the chance to come over here and practice with that and play a first-class game is important for us. I guess that’s part of the game, trying to find out if the ball does swing and especially what time of day it does it, so it’s really useful practice for us,” further added the leading wicket-taker for England in Tests.

The Second Magellan Ashes to be held at Adelaide is scheduled to be a Day/Night encounter. “Especially playing in Adelaide where the Test match is going to be. I’ve heard that it does swing a bit more, the pink Kookaburra, which is good for all the bowlers, to be honest,” concluded Anderson.