England go pink

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The latest evolution in Test Cricket finally hits England this week when England host West Indies in the first Test of the series at Edgbaston.

Day/Night Test matches have only happened four times so far in two different countires, Australia three times and Dubai hosting Pakistan and West Indies.

These matches do bring up all new factors which traditional Test Matches don't have. We have seen recently in the trial of Day/Night County Championship matches where teams who batted first approached it similar to a limited overs match. Where teams were trying to score as much as possible as quickly as they could and then declare and just as the lights begin to take affect. The lights and dew taking affect meant that the new pink balls were swinging through the air more and zipping off the surface leading to the downfall of many batsmen. We saw an example of the change in mentality in these games at the highest level with David Warner scoring a hundred in the first session a Test Match against Pakistan at the Gabba in Brisbane.

Fast bowlers enjoy the Night session of these matches too as like previously mentioned the new ball swinging more than the traditional red ball. It will be interesting to see how the likes of James Anderson and the re-called Chris Woakes who get the ball swinging quite a bit during the normal Test Matches and the former had success with the Pink ball when Lancashire played with it earlier in the year.

There will be at least one more first when the game begins at Edgbaston, with two uncapped players called up to their latest squad in Marc Stoneman and Mason Crane, the former who is already down to be Alastair Cooks' latest opening partner. After scoring 1000+ Championship runs for the past three seasons at Durham and now Surrey, the classy opener showed what he is capable at the right time in front of Sky cameras scoring an unbeaten hundred against Nottinghamshire in the final of the Royal London cup at Lords, unfortunately for Stoneman it was in a losing cause thanks to the Alex Hales masterclass in the second innings. But, Stoneman has shown he can look to score but also the value he puts on his wicket you wont see him give it away in the search for runs. Stoneman has now long been tipped for a call up to the England side and many see him as the best option from the county game to partner Alastair Cook going forward, other than Haseeb Hameed of Lancashire.

The call up of Mason Crane, dropping Liam Dawson in the process, is an interesting one. He is a leg-spinner with a growing reputation. Having represented England already this summer in the T20 International series against South Africa where he claimed AB De Villiars as his first international wicket. Having a leg spinner in the side always adds another string to a bowling attacks bow but whether Crane will feature at Edgbaston or not is still yet to be seen. Personally with the conditions that have proven successful in the Day/Night matches so far I can see England remaining seam heavy in the bowling department.

Englands' ability to adapt is what will come into question during this match, epseically if they are to begin their innings during twilight at the ground. It will prove an interesting contest with Englands' first exposure to this style of game as well as a West Indian team who are going through a period of change themselves and with captain Jason Holder will be looking to cause an upset on English soil.

Let me know your thoughts on the upcoming Test match and series in the comment section below.

JW