Pink Ball Test

The Pink Ball Test is a day night Test cricket played with a pink ball instead of a red one. It is called the Pink Ball Test match because of the use of Pink ball in cricket. Pink ball is used because it is easier to spot under the lights for day night Test cricket.

The first pink ball test match was played between Australia and New Zealand on November 2015. The Australian team had won the match by 3 wickets and had become the first team to win a match with a pink ball. The pink ball tends to swing more under the lights and bowlers love bowling with a pink ball.

Josh Hazlewood was the first bowler who took fifer for the first time in Pink ball cricket.

Usman Khawaja was the first batsman to score a ton with a Pink ball.

Day/Night Test Match List

A list of Pink ball Test Match aka Day Night Test Match is given below. You can check all pink ball test match scorecard at one place.

  Teams Match Match Date Venue Result & Scorecard
1 Australia vs New Zealand 3rd Match 27-11-2015 Adelaide Australia won by 3 wickets
Pakistan vs West Indies 2nd Match 13-10-2016 Dubai Pakistan won by 56 runs
3 Australia vs South Africa 3rd Match 24-11-2016 Adelaide Australia won by 7 wickets
4  Australia vs Pakistan 1st Match 15-12-2016 Brisbane  Australia won by 39 runs
5 England vs West Indies 1st Match 17-08-2017 Edgbaston England won by an innings and 209 runs
6 Pakistan vs Sri Lanka 2nd Match 06-10-2017 Dubai Sri Lanka won by 68 runs
7 Australia vs England 2nd Match 02-12-2017 Adelaide Australia won by 120 runs
8 South Africa vs Zimbabwe 1st Match 26-12-2017 Port Elizabeth South Africa won by an innings and 120 runs
9 New Zealand vs England 1st Match 22-03-2018 Auckland New Zealand won by an innings and 49 runs
10 West Indies vs Sri Lanka 3rd Match 23-06-2018 Bridgetown Sri Lanka won by 4 wickets
11 Australia vs Sri Lanka 1st Match 24-01-2019 Brisbane Australia won by an innings and 40 runs
12  India vs Bangladesh 2nd Match 22-11-2019 Kolkata India won by an innings and 46 runs
13 Australia vs Pakistan 2nd Match 29-11-2019 Adelaide Australia won by an innings and 48 runs
14 Australia vs New Zealand 1st Match 12-12-2019 Perth Australia won by 296 runs
15 Australia vs India 1st Match 17-12-2020 Adelaide Australia won by 8 wickets
16 India vs England 3rd Test 24-02-2021 Ahmedabad India won by 10 wickets
17 Australia vs England
Ashes Series 21-22
2nd Test 16-12-2021 Adelaide Oval Australia won by 275 runs
18 Australia vs England
The Ashes Series 21-22
5th Test 14-01-2022 Hobart Australia won by 146 runs
19 India vs Sri Lanka 2nd Test 12-03-2022 Bangalore India won by 238 runs
20 Australia vs West Indies 2nd Test 08-12-2022 Adelaide Oval Australia won by 419 runs
21 New Zealand vs England 1st Test 16-02-2023 Bay Oval England won by 267 runs
22 Australia vs West Indies 2nd Test 25-01-2024 Brisbane Cricket Ground West Indies won by 8 runs
23 Australia vs India
(Border Gavaskar Trophy)
2nd Test 06-12-2024 Adelaide Oval Australia won by 10 wickets
24 The Ashes Series 2025 2nd Test 04-12-2025 The Gabba, Brisbane TBD

The Australian team has played the most (13 times) Pink ball day night test matches and it has managed to win 12 matches.

The Indian team had played their first Pink ball test match against Bangladesh in Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Virat Kohli had made a brilliant century and became the first Indian batsman to hit a hundred in a Pink ball test cricket. SG cricket ball is used in India in pink-ball cricket while Kookaburra ball is used in overseas venues. 17 Pink ball test matches have been played till now. India has played 3 Pink ball test matches.

The first match Indian team had played against Bangladesh in Kolkata and second-time Indian team had played against Australia in Adelaide, Oval. India had won the match against Bangladesh but lost their second Pink ball test match against Australia. India played their 3rd Day and night test match against England in Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, India and won it in just 2 days.

Pink Ball Test Match Win / Loss

  Played Won Lost Draw Win%
Australia 13 12 1 0 92
India 5 3 2 0 60
Sri Lanka 4 2 2 0 50
South Africa 2 1 1 0 50
England 7 2 5 0 29
New Zealand 4 1 3 0 25
Pakistan 4 1 3 0 25
Bangladesh 1 0 1 0 0
West Indies 4 1 3 0 25%
Zimbabwe 1 0 1 0 0

Day Night Test Match Records

Highest Team Total - 589/3 Australia against Pakistan (First Innings)

Lowest Team Total - India 36/9 against Australia in Australia (Second Innings)

Best Bowling Figure - Devendra Bishoo 49/8 wickets against Pakistan (Second Innings)

Highest Individual Score - David Warner 335* runs against Pakistan in Australia (First Innings)

Most Centuries - Marnus Labuschagne is the only player to score 4 Day Night Test century. He also became the first player to score two and three pink ball test century. Dimuth Karunaratne from Sri Lanka became the second player to score 2 test century in a day night test match. He is also the only Sri Lankan player to score a hundred in this format. Travis Head became 3rd player to score two hundreds in Day night test match.

Australia have played most 11 day night test matches and they have won it all.

All Day Night test matches have got results. We have not seen any matches which went for a draw.

Sri Lanka is the only team to win a day night test match as a visiting team against West Indies in 2018.

Pink Ball Test Century List

Total 28 times players have scored hundred in Day Night Test Match till date. First pink ball test century was scored by Azhar Ali from Pakistan. Two players have scored triple century while one player have scored a double hundred.

  Player Team Score Date
1 Azhar Ali Pakistan 302 13-10-2016
2 Darren Bravo West Indies 116 13-10-2016
3 Faf du Plessis South Africa 118 24-11-2016
4 Usman Khawaja Australia 145 24-11-2016
5 Stephen Cook South Africa 104 24-11-2016
6 Steven Smith Australia 130 15-12-2016
7 Peter Handscomb Australia 105 15-12-2016
8 Asad Shafiq Pakistan 137 15-12-2016
9 Alastair Cook England 243 17-08-2017
10 Joe Root England 136 17-08-2017
11 Dimuth Karunaratne Sri Lanka 196 06-10-2017
12 Asad Shafiq Pakistan 112 06-10-2017
13 Shaun Marsh Australia 126 02-12-2017
14 Aiden Markram South Africa 125 26-12-2017
15 Kane Williamson New Zealand 102 22-03-2018
16 Henry Nicholls NZ 145 22-03-2018
17 Virat Kohli IND 136 22-11-2019
18 David Warner AUS 335 29-11-2019
19 Marnus Labuschagne AUS 162 29-11-2019
20 Yasir Shah PAK 113 29-11-2019
21 Marnus Labuschagne Aus 143 12-12-2019
22 Marnus Labuschagne AUS 103 16-12-2021
23 Travis Head AUS 101 14-01-2022
24 Dimuth Karunaratne Sri Lanka 107 12-03-2022
25 Marnus Labuschagne Australia 120* 08-12-2022
26 Travis Head Australia 114* 08-12-2022
27 Tom Blundell New Zealand 138 16-02-2023
28 Travis Head Australia 140 06-12-2024
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