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Warner not a fan of pink ball revolution

Pink ball cricket appears to have David Warner seeing red.

The love-in after the highly successful Adelaide day-night Test appears over with Australian vice-captain Warner admitting his team “have to” embrace the pink ball revolution despite wondering aloud why powerbrokers were changing the game.

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And recovering Australian No.3 Usman Khawaja has also called into question Brisbane’s favouritism as the next day-night venue Down Under, saying doctoring green decks to preserve the pink ball is not what Test cricket is about.

Cricket Australia was thrilled with a total attendance of 123,736 for Australia’s historic third Test win in three days over New Zealand in Adelaide.

The Nine Network was just as happy with prime-time TV ratings that peaked at 3.19 million.

But it seems Warner was not a major fan.

“Why are we changing a game that has been around for a long, long time?” he told Sky Sports Radio.

“At the end of the day, we know what it’s about, we know why they’re trying to achieve this.

“I don’t understand why we’re changing the game.

“It’s something as players we’re going to have to embrace.

“We have to be (backing the concept) at the end of the day.”

Asked about the pink ball itself, Warner said: “We’ve got to tinker with that ball a bit more.

“The only disappointing thing from our point of view is that you’ve got to get the product right and if the product’s not right, it’s hard to go out there and play the game.”

Warner is preparing for Australia’s first Test against the West Indies in Hobart starting on Thursday.

Hobart is hoping to defy morbid predictions of less than 10,000 people attending the first four days of what looms as a lop sided Test in order to remain in contention for the next day-night Test next summer.

But Brisbane appears the favourite for the lucrative gig – not that Queensland-based batsman Khawaja is convinced.

Adelaide curators kept a green sheen to their deck to ensure the pink ball did not lose its gloss sooner rather than later.

But Khawaja – hoping to overcome a hamstring complaint by the Boxing Day Test – said that just wasn’t cricket.

Asked if Brisbane should host the next day-night Test, Khawaja said: “I don’t know.

“You can’t just keep the wickets green to protect the ball.

“They definitely needed a bit more grass on the oval in Adelaide for the pink ball – you don’t want to be doing that.

“You want to be keeping an even surface.

“What you have for the red ball you want to keep for the pink ball so that’s where we’ve probably have to end up.

“How long that takes, I’m not sure.”

– AAP

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