‘Cricket chiefs discriminating against colour blind by using pink ball’

A letter from campaign group Colour Blind Awareness has urged the England and Wales Cricket Board to reconsider their use of the pink ball, which it said was difficult to see for both players and spectators

Cricket chiefs have been accused of discriminating against the colour blind by deploying the pink ball in the first day/night Test match between England and the West Indies in Birmingham.

The ongoing Birmingham Test is the fifth day/night Test match played with pink balls. The first day/night Test was played in Adelaide between Australia and New Zealand in 2015. (Getty Images)

The first match of the three-Test series between the two teams is a day-night affair as the ICC is taking its latest step to keep alive the oldest format of the game. (ENG vs WI SCORECARD)

The ongoing Birmingham Test is the fifth day/night Test match. The first day/night Test was played in Adelaide between Australia and New Zealand in 2015.

WICKET! @jimmy9 strikes in the third over to get Brathwaite caught behind by @jbairstow21!

WI 0/1 #ENGvWIhttps://t.co/rxDAQ4457N pic.twitter.com/2FH0pE5ww6

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 18, 2017

Dubai hosted the second day/night Test in October last year when Pakistan beat the West Indies. Australia played the next two day/night matches at home against South Africa and Pakistan.

So, this is the first time England has hosted a day/night five-day game.

But some people have raised concerns on the use of the pink ball in the day/night Test matches.

DIFFICULT TO SEE

According to the Daily Telegraph, a letter from campaign group Colour Blind Awareness has urged the England and Wales Cricket Board to reconsider their use of the pink ball, which it said was difficult to see for both players and spectators with the condition.

“In the UK there are approximately three million people with colour blindness,” the Telegraph quoted the letter from CBA founder Kathryn Albany-Ward as saying.

Used pink cricket balls are pictured on the pitch during a training session on the eve of the first day of the first cricket Test Match between England and the West Indies at Edgbaston in Birmingham on August 16, 2017. There has been much talk about how the pink ball -- required for floodlit Tests as the players' traditional clothing makes the white ball familiar from one-day internationals as unusable as the standard red -- will affect bowlers. (AFP)

“So, it would be extremely difficult to argue that it is reasonable to use a pink ball when so many people are potentially adversely affected,” the letter added.

Yorkshire and England batsman Gary Ballance, not playing at Edgbaston, is among those who’ve struggled to see the pink ball because of his colour blindness, although he recently said he was finding it easier to pick up after the ball had been modified.

WICKET Stokes caught off Chase after top-edging a reverse sweep

466/5 #ENGvWIhttps://t.co/rxDAQ4457N pic.twitter.com/zcrHQvs4Qo

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 18, 2017

And three years ago, Australia opening batsman Chris Rogers withdrew from a pink-ball trial match because he has the condition.

But it is understood all the England players at Edgbaston had eyesight tests in a bid to ensure they could cope with the pink ball.