Sorry England: Cricket Aus boss planning more pink ball Ashes Tests

Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg is sticking firm with plans to host future Ashes Tests under lights.

According to reports, the ECB plans to reject any proposals to play a day-night Test in Australia in the next Ashes series down under.

While that’s supposedly England’s preference, with Joe Root questioning whether a series as big as the Ashes needs the extra eyeballs of a pink-ball Test, Greenberg says nothing has been requested yet.

The CEO says Australia will continue to host at least one Test under lights each summer, adding that Cricket Australia is ready to work with England to help them better prepare for pink ball cricket ahead of the 2029-30 series.

“No, they haven’t requested it,” Greenberg said on SEN Whateley.

“I’ve read the same reports you’ve read. Pleasingly, we don’t play them here until 2029, so I’ve got a little bit of time to work this one out. continued.

“It’s a part of our broadcast contracts, it’s clearly a big part of our summer, it clearly works here in this country – we’ve shown it works it Adelaide, and it certainly worked last year in Brisbane.

“It’s our plan to continue at least one of those in a summer. If we need to work with our comrades at the ECB to help them prepare better or have practice matches, we will do all of those sorts of things. We will have that dialogue if and when needed.”

But they should expect to be playing pink in 2029?

“That’s certainly our expectation, yes.”

Australia have a brilliant record in pink-ball Tests, winning 14 of their 15 Tests under lights since they were introduced in 2015. TV audience numbers also suggest that Test cricket in primetime is a big win for broadcasters.

While England may not want to play Ashes Tests under lights in Australia going forward, they’ll have no choice but to face up to the pink ball during the 150th Anniversary Test at the MCG in March, 2027.

Even though some would have preferred that such a historical Test was played under traditional conditions with a red ball, Greenberg says there was clear reasoning behind the decision to use a pink ball.

“This has been a conversation that has been had all through summer,” Greenberg told SEN Whateley.

“The reality is, the decision is made; it’s pink.

“The ticket sales send us a very strong message that people will turn up. It’s clearly a better time zone for those in England to be able to watch it on broadcast.

“It’s not school holidays at that period of time, so I am hoping that kids and families can finish their days at school and leave work early and be at the ground.

“It’s also a bit of a nod to say, we’re at 150 years of Australia and England Test matches, and we’ve got to continue to challenge ourselves and evolve. Not suggesting for one minute that every Test match should be a pink ball game, but pink ball has a place to play in this country.

“Anyone who is against it just needs to look through the prism of; we will have double the amount of people watching a particular session than we ordinarily do. You can’t turn away from that.”

More than 125,000 tickets have already been sold to the 150th Anniversary Test at the ‘G. The big game begins on March 11, 2027.