Team England undergo color vision eye tests ahead of their first day-night Test

Team England recently underwent color vision eye tests ahead of their first ever day-night Test. The English team is set to play the historic game when they host the West Indies at Edgbaston on the coming Thursday. This will be their first ever taste with the day-night Test and the pink ball. The color vision tests were conducted in order to figure the efficiency of the players in regard to citing the pink ball.

As per the reports in the Dailymail.co.uk, these examinations were conducted during the third and the fourth Tests of the recently concluded Test series against South Africa. The tests were conducted in London and Manchester. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) admitted that the lab tests can definitely not give cent percent accurate results in terms of the ability of the players to sight the ball properly. However, they are good enough to give the ECB and the players a rough idea about the same. One of the spokesperson of the ECB confirmed the same.

“We have checked the players’ colour vision ahead of the upcoming match to ensure no obvious issues. However, vision in an assessment room versus outside in the dark with bright lights brings in many factors,” the spokesperson quoted.

Prior experience

Talking about the prior experience, the players have played with the pink ball under lights in a few day-night County Championship matches in June this year. Most batsmen conceded that they have no sighting and visibility issues with the pink ball as such.

However, there were a few complaints about the ball getting softer earlier than usual in the course of the game. England are set to play three international day-night games in the next 8 months. After hosting the West Indies, they will have a day night fixture in the Ashes this year, and then play New Zealand at Auckland in their third day-night Test.