There has been a lot of discussion over the past week about day-night Tests, how to approach them and whether they produce quality cricket. Stuart Broad described them as a lottery but Australia’s outstanding record would suggest that actually the best team normally prevails, and skill should win the day. The question for England is whether they have it in them to dominate in relatively unfamiliar conditions, to win key battles at key moments and to take control.
I remember the day-night Test in Adelaide in 2017, when I was with the England team as batting coach. I personally enjoyed the spectacle and felt it was a good challenge for the players. We lost that match despite going into it having played four first-class games and the first Test in Brisbane, so we had a volume of cricket under our belt. A pink-ball Test was something new, but the players all felt they were up to speed in terms of match cricket. This England side are nowhere near, and that is a concern. You need what I call your match-head on, and that only comes from playing matches. I’m firmly of the view that you can have all the nets sessions you want, but it’s not the same – when you play a loose drive in the nets there is no consequence, a lack of precision goes unpunished. In a match you have to walk off.
