On the 22 yards at the Adelaide Oval, six millimetres of grass has been left, which is a standard practice in day-night Tests to preserve the condition of the pink Kookaburra ball. Australia have won all seven of their pink-ball Tests in Adelaide, while India are playing a day-night Test for the first time after March 2022.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cWeather, yes, is a short answer to that (affecting the game). Right now, with over two days out from the first ball, it does look like Friday could be wet with some thunderstorms. We\u2019ve had some unseasonable thunderstorms over the last few weeks. We\u2019re normally quite dry in our climate, so we\u2019ve had a few storms around.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"It looks like they\u2019re around Friday, so I don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s going to be in the morning or in the afternoon. I\u2019ll sort of look at that once we get the forecast in about three hours\u2019 time, and have a better understanding what that looks like.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"It\u2019s a little bit hit and miss, as in there\u2019s two different models out there right now, one saying it\u2019s going to come early and not be as bad during the game. The other one is it could be more around lunchtime and during the afternoon.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"We\u2019ll wait and see, as it looks like it\u2019s clearing out Saturday morning. On day one, we might lose a few overs, but from day two onwards, looks like the weather\u2019s going to be good and we\u2019ll be able to pick those overs back up hopefully,\" said Hough to IANS in a select virtual interaction organised by Cricket Australia on Wednesday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The history of pink-ball Test cricket shows that batting during twilight poses the toughest challenges for batters. While Hough didn\u2019t have definitive information, he felt the common view of twilight sessions being tough for batters was accurate.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"I just worry about the pitch preparation side of things, so I don\u2019t talk to the plaers in-depth about what they find challenging. But history suggests that the night time session tends to liven up a little bit in regards to if a new ball, or there\u2019s a declaration or they get them all out under lights in that last session with a couple of new batters.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"It seems to then take a bit more to get used to. If you\u2019ve got a couple of players in, they can navigate through that a lot easier. I know that they found it hard in the early days to pick the seam and even with the spinners. So I know Kookaburra have done a lot of work in with the ball, but I don\u2019t know the finer details.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"I sort of just focus on my role within the game and preparing the pitch. I don\u2019t try to understand all of those other aspects of the game. Like, if I can get my side of it right with my team or then that plays a role in allowing the players to shine.\"<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Though pacers majorly call the shots in pink-ball Tests, Hough believes spinners can\u2019t be kept completely aside, as seen from Nathan Lyon picking 51 wickets here and Ravichandran Ashwin taking a four-fer when India last played a pink-ball game in Adelaide in December 2020, though its more remembered for 36 all out happening in the morning session.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Hough recently was the pitch curator for the day-night Sheffield Shield match between South Australia and Western Australia, which ended in a draw due to rain majorly dominating the proceedings. He stated his objective is to recreate the pitch that performed well in the Shield for the upcoming Test in Adelaide.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"Any Shield game really is a lead-up to what we do with a Test match. They\u2019re not trial games because they\u2019re first class important games to us, but it can help us understand what\u2019s going on from year to year with a pitch. The drop-ins continue to mature and slightly change each year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"So if we have our ideal pitch that we want to play, the characteristics, to get there we might have to change a small little thing here or there. It could be the height of cut, how do we get the moisture down deep into a drop-in pitch. For those sort of things, we do a lot of testing and measuring and monitoring on. So from our side, they\u2019re really, really important.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"We\u2019ve literally a day-night Shield game a week and a half ago. So it went well, feedback was good and it gave us the confidence in regards to what we believe is the right preparation techniques for this pitch for the Test match, considering its importance. So again, it played well.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"So if we have our ideal pitch that we want to play, the characteristics, to get there we might have to change a small little thing here or there. It could be the height of cut, how do we get the moisture down deep into a drop-in pitch. For those sort of things, we do a lot of testing and measuring and monitoring on. So from our side, they\u2019re really, really important.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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