New Delhi, Nov 28 (IANS) Former England cricketer Stuart Broad believes England’s chances in the Brisbane Test will be based on the fact how well they utilise the “lottery” with the pink ball.

The second Test of the five-match Ashes series will begin on December 4 and will be a day-night match at the Gabba following an eight-wicket win for Australia in the first game.

“We know the pink-ball Test, having played a few ourselves, is a bit of a lottery,” said Broad on the For The Love of Cricket podcast. “Ultimately, the best team generally wins Test matches but this one, it’s on a bit more of a knife edge of conditions.”

England have lost all three of their pink ball Test, first by 120 runs in Adelaide in 2017, before 275-run and 146-run defeats in Adelaide and Hobart on their last tour in 2021.

“If you can get a brand new ball under the floodlights at the Gabba, you should be taking wickets and you can break the game open,” said Broad.

“It is all about timing a little bit of when you bowl with the brand new ball. That is why I don’t like bowling first in pink-ball cricket because you bowl with a brand new ball in daylight and it doesn’t do a lot.

“By the time you get to the twilight period the ball is 60 overs old and doesn’t do anything – and the new ball comes too late in the day. Winning the toss and batting is pretty crucial in the pink-ball Test in my opinion. That is my feeling in pink-ball cricket. It is going to be one hell of a challenge.”

As compared to England, Australia have won 12 out of their 13 pink ball Test at home, having lost only one against West Indies at the Gabba last year. Teams batting first have won six times in eleven occasions, with the pink ball giving extra assistance to bowlers in night.

“I’m not the biggest fan (of pink-ball Tests) to be honest,” said the veteran pacer.

“It’s quite situational dependent, so if you can manipulate the game to get a brand new ball in the twilight, you’ve got a great chance of doing really well because the ball just seems to zip around a little bit more.

“There’s something about the pink ball, you just can’t pick it up quite as well. You get no clues as well, so the seam is black against the pink background, whereas with a red ball and white seam you might see Mitchell Starc’s in-swinger coming back into the stumps or scrambling around.

“It’s just the lights are reflecting off the pink ball so it’s almost like a big planet coming flying towards you. It means you’re just judging it from the movement off the surface or reading off the movement of the ball, but at such pace it’s quite difficult to do. That’s why I think it is quite important to bat first because even if you are bowled out by tea when it’s starting to go dark, you have a brand new ball under lights. And if you bat well you can control when you bowl in the game and in the day,” he added.

–IANS

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