Head swats aside criticism: “Pink ball, white ball, red ball… Who really cares?”
Matt Roller30-Nov-2025Joe Root has questioned whether the Ashes should include a pink-ball Test ahead of Thursday’s day-night fixture in Brisbane.The first pink-ball Test was staged a decade ago and the format was initially devised to boost attendances. The second Test of the 2025-26 Ashes between Australia and England at the Gabba this week will be the 25th played with a pink ball and the fourth in an Ashes series, and tickets have sold out for the first three days.But amid huge demand for tickets across the tour, Root queried whether the day-night element was necessary. “I don’t think you need it in Ashes series. Absolutely not,” he said before training at the Gabba on Sunday.”I don’t mind [pink-ball cricket]. I mean, I don’t think it’s as good as traditional Test cricket. But it’s in the schedule: we’ve got to play it, and just got to make sure we’re better than them at it… It’s clearly something that works here for Australia, and they enjoy it.”He added: “It does add to things. It’s obviously very successful and popular here, and obviously Australia have got a very good record here as well. You can see why we’re playing one of those games and ultimately, you know from two years out [that] it is going to be there… A series like this, does it need it? I don’t think so, but it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be here either.”Related
-
Ten years since Adelaide, pink-ball Tests remain an Australian speciality
-
Steven Smith bats with 'eye blacks' ahead of pink-ball challenge
-
Head 'happy' to keep opening amid Khawaja debate
-
Wood set to miss second Test after long road back from injury
-
Stokes: Calling England arrogant is a step too far
Both Cricket Australia and the ECB were happy to play the game as a pink-ball Test, since home boards need the agreement of their opponents before the ICC grant approval for Test matches to be played as day-night games. The 2pm start time in Brisbane means that the final session will be played in primetime for domestic TV audiences, and in daylight hours in the UK.Travis Head, who scored 123 off 83 balls in the series opener in Perth to put Australia 1-0 up, dismissed Root’s comments. “We’ve embraced it,” he said. “We’ve been able to put out a good product, and been able to play really, really well with it. Pink ball, white ball, red ball… Who really cares?”It’s a great spectacle. We’re going to have huge crowds again. [We’ll] look forward to the week and, look, if you win, you think it’s great, and if you lose, maybe not. Both teams might have differing opinions by the end of it… It still works the same way. It’s still five days, it’s just with a slightly different ball.”Mitchell Starc took 6 for 9 with the pink ball in Australia’s most recent day-night Test•Associated Press
Root has played in each of England’s seven previous day-night Tests, captaining in six of them, and said that England must be aware of “how quickly the game can change” under floodlights. “At different phases of the day, it can feel quite placid and you can feel out of the game with the ball, and things can turn around,” he said.”Similarly, with the bat, [it is about] recognising those moments and utilising them as best you can: when to put the foot down and maximise the good batting conditions; similarly, being able to maximise it when it changes and how quickly it changes.”The sun will set during the second session of play in Brisbane this week, which Root highlighted as a difference to England’s recent day-night Tests.”It looks like we’ll have half of a day under floodlights. The twilight phase is in the middle session, when usually that comes around the back end of the second session and the start of the last session.”There will be different elements to contend with, but that is all part of the fun, right? Can we be skilful enough and brave enough to be better than Australia in those big moments?”Australia’s only defeat in their 14 previous pink-ball Tests came against West Indies at the Gabba early last year, but England have a dreadful record in Brisbane, last winning there in 1986-87.”It is a chance to make a bit of history,” Root said. “It will make it all that bit sweeter if we can get over the line here. I’ve played at other venues where we’ve got terrible records, then come out and won; it’s a great feeling. That’s the carrot dangled in front of us.”
