Comment: Do away with the sour oranges

The experiment currently underway with orange ball in Quaid-i-Azam Trophy presents existential question for cricket.

The experiment currently underway with an orange ball in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy presents an existential question for cricket.

For the first time in the Pakistan’s history, a first-class match is being played under lights — by design, that is.

Taking into account the importance the event was given by the International Cricket Council – the body’s general manager attended the event – the sport’s authorities can safely be said to be at least mulling experimenting with the idea in Tests.

Now, however far down the line this experiment may come, Project Orange Ball threatens, or promises, the most potent modification the sport has ever seen.

The fact is, while the game has seen many innovations over the years – which have all invoked the ire of the purists – this experiment is very different.

The change it proposes is a lot more radical than limited overs, coloured kits, flood lights, even more limited overs, Powerplays, cheerleaders and player auctions.

All these changes to the sport had one thing in common — they all occurred in, or resulted in, different formats: One-day Internationals, Twenty20s. They were add-ons — the metaphoric new building constructed next to the centuries-old structure to accommodate the times.

They were the novelty items that were ultimately to be the money-making machines to ensure that the purest form of the game continued to survive despite shrinking crowds and limited television ratings. Or, to be fairer, to provide a more abridged form of the sport to capture a wider audience.

But most importantly, they stayed away from the centuries old cathedral — Test cricket.

Project Orange Ball, however, threatens to change this decades-old understanding between the purists and the radicals.

But is all this really worth it?

Ostensibly, the reason d’être behind bringing first-class cricket under lights can revolve around only a few justifications.

One, it will bring in more television viewers since the day format means less people can tune in. Two, it will bring in more of a crowd. Both targets revolve around the same justification — making cricket more practical for its followers, theoretically at least.

Yet, one can’t help but feel that the reaction is greater and more radical than the actual threat itself.

The first-class version of the sport is an acquired taste — and those who are inclined to follow it will do so in any case.

The increased following that such a move could theoretically bring is negligible relative to what is being given up — the sanctity of the cathedral, which has been safeguarded so carefully over the years.

Conservatism aside, the change is not worth it. If not for existential reasons, then for the simple reason that Test cricket is one of the most, if not the most, grueling, punishing and severe versions of any sport. It surely cannot involve an orange ball.

The writer is a Test cricket extremist

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th,  2011.