Aus vs India 2nd Test – Stats – What makes Australia so impressive in day-night Tests at home?
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Aus vs India 2nd Test – Stats – What makes Australia so impressive in day-night Tests at home?

Posted on by Amelia Pressman

The upcoming day-night Test in Adelaide provides Australia with the perfect opportunity to avenge their 295-run loss to India in the first Test. But Australia, which has not won a Test series after over 25 years, can be proud of its record in pink-ball Tests, having won all seven at the Adelaide Oval and all but one of the 12 day-nighters at home. Here’s a statistical guide to what worked and what didn’t in Australia’s day-night tests.

The key to success in day-night Tests in Australia is to bat first and post respectable totals. Australia used this strategy effectively – with luck in the throw – and won on all seven occasions where they batted first. In six of those games they scored a total of over 400 points.
The West Indies did something similar earlier this year. After electing to bat, they scored 311 and secured an eight-run win to end Australia’s winning streak in pink-ball Tests.
Overall, the team that won the toss elected to bat first in ten of the twelve day-night Tests in Australia. England were the only exceptions – in Adelaide in 2017 and Hobart in 2022. In both cases they let their lead slip, allowing Australia’s middle and lower order to score big. New Zealand in 2015 at the Adelaide Oval and Sri Lanka at the Gabba in 2019 failed to take advantage of batting first as they were bowled out for 202 and 144 respectively.
South Africa posted a record of 259 for 9 in Adelaide in 2016 but declared under lights in the final hour that they would face the Australian batters in their innings. However, the move did not work as Australia went to stumps without losing a wicket.
India became the only team to lose a day-night Test in Australia in 2020 despite taking the lead in the first innings. The defeat was sealed when they were bowled out for 36 in the second innings and failed to make the most of their 53-run lead in the first innings.

A new ball makes a difference

One of the general trends in Australia is that the new ball produces much better results in day-night tests than in day tests. Since the 2015-16 season, fast bowlers have averaged 33.02 in the first 20 overs of an innings in red-ball Tests. In pink ball games this value is 24.56.

A big reason for this is the success of Australia’s fast bowlers, who average 18.87 with the new pink ball, while the average with the new red ball is 25.01. Even the visitors’ quicks performed better in the pink-ball Tests, averaging 33.94 in the first 20 overs as against 45.91 in the red-ball Tests.

Batters’ difficulties with the new pink ball are obvious – wickets fall on average about two overs faster in the first 20 overs against seamers in pink-ball Tests than in red-ball games.

Batting is not easy in the last session

Fast bowlers have generally thrived under lights in Australia, making it the most difficult phase for batters. Their average is 20.30 in the last session, compared to 23.03 in the first and 32.01 in the second session. The numbers from Australia’s fast bowlers are even more impressive: they currently average 14.66 under lights in 12 day-night Tests at home. Their corresponding numbers for the first and second sessions are 20.82 and 24.57, respectively.

In contrast, Australian batters performed better under lights than in the first two sessions. The visitors’ fast bowlers averaged 32.08 in the final session despite conceding just 25.04 per wicket in the first session.

However, the day-night Tests at the Adelaide Oval present a unique scenario with fast bowlers excelling in the first session with an average of 23.02 but in the third their performance drops to 25.66. Guest sailors also performed better in the afternoon session (average 32.37) than in the third session (average 41.37).

On the other hand, Australia’s pacers enjoyed bowling equally in the first and third sessions. They average 17.42 in the afternoon and 18.26 under light. That means only one team has managed to surpass the 300-run mark against them in Adelaide in day-night Tests – 302 by Pakistan in 2019, but that was after they conceded 589 in the first innings .

Lyon outperforms the away spinners

Australia has been a challenging country for visiting spinners, be it with the red or pink ball. The visiting spinners have averaged 62.31 in 36 red-ball Tests in Australia since the 2015-16 season, while their average in the day-night tests are 64.44.
Nathan Lyon, however, was different. Since 2015-16, he has averaged 25.58 in day-night Tests while he averaged 31.80 in red-ball Tests at home. Lyon also needs seven fewer balls to bat in the pink-ball Tests than in red-ball games.

Labuschagne and Starc top the charts

Given his remarkable success in pink-ball Tests, Marnus Labuschagne has a golden chance to turn his batting fortunes around. With a total of 894 runs in 14 innings at an average of 63.85, he is the leading run-getter in pink-ball Tests in Australia. Labuschagne made four centuries in these Tests; Travis Head with two is the next best.
Mitchell Starc’s dominance in pink-ball Tests is also unparalleled. He is the only one with more than 50 wickets in pink-ball Tests in Australia. His 66 wickets have an average of 18.71. Josh Hazlewood (37 at 18.86) and Pat Cummins (34 at 18.35) also average under 20, and Scott Boland, who is likely to replace Hazlewood in the second Test against India, has seven wickets at 13.71in two pink ball outings.

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