Pink ball cricket: Why we need at least two Tests per summer

If this is Test cricket, hook it to my veins, tape up the needle and throw away the scissors.

The sport needs more, not less of this. Every moment is riveting. There are no lulls. It's healthy to be a pink ball addict.

Isn't this the sort of cricket we want?

Nine years ago the players finally agreed to partake in an experiment. Broadcasters were bullish and administrators hopeful. It took courage to say yes. But it was necessary.

Back then, Kookaburra had developed a ball with a green seam, not black as it is now. The colourblind Chris Rogers timed his retirement four months earlier to perfection.

Since the inaugural day-night Test, Cricket Australia has proceeded in a manner diametrically opposed to the governing body’s BBL mantra.

Slow and steady, rather than more, more and more.

In the eyes of players - the second most important stakeholder - less is more when it comes to pink ball affairs.

That's OK. It's their careers at stake. But if they can play one per summer, surely they can manage one or two more?

The late, great Shane Warne advocated for a day-night Boxing Day Test four years before he passed. “Now is the time to have a Boxing Day Test match as a day-nighter,” Warne said on Fox Cricket.

“You talk about the pitch, you talk about whatever you want but a day-night Boxing Day Test match with a pink ball would be fantastic."

And what about the SCG? That would light up in the new year with a fresh format, especially against lesser Test nations.

In the eight summers since that New Zealand Test, only twice have two day-night fixtures been scheduled in the same season.

Otherwise, Australia has settled with one. And each one has a special vibe, regardless of the actual cricket that’s played.

This is Adelaide's eighth, Brisbane has hosted three, then Hobart and Perth one apiece. Why are Sydney and Melbourne so special they should be exempt from a format which is clearly the future?

Granted, not every year. But try it.

Sitting at Adelaide Oval as the sun set on Friday evening, you’d be forgiven for wondering why they are not more commonplace.

PSA: It may take the casual cricket supporter 12 months to fully realise it, but next year this blockbuster has been taken off Adelaide and handed to Brisbane. Sorry.

There are several reasons offered for why there aren't more. One is CA doesn’t want the Adelaide day-nighter to overlap with the beginning of the BBL. Another is the Gabba needs the event or people won’t come, while Adelaide is a party no matter the format.

Regardless, it’s a shame. CA should bullet lock in day-nighters to Adelaide for as long as the MCG is tied to the AFL Grand Final and then some. Make it an institution, just as Gather Round and LIV Golf are already deeply embedded in this state.

And if another city wants to join in the fun, why not? Test cricket can still survive with three red ball matches per summer.

It's the constant tussle between bowler and batter in these conditions which is so gripping.

Ask Usman Khawaja, who openly said his role sucks before the summer and was lulled into a fifth stumper from Jasprit Bumrah, handing the Indian champion his 50th Test wicket for the year.

The soon-to-be-38-year-old has one 50 in his last 15 knocks. His average is 24 in that period. It’s a worry, even if Bumrah would trouble any batter in history on current form.

And even though Khawja was shuffling across the crease like a crab, the action was irrepressible.

Nathan Mcsweeney and Marnus Labuschagne appeared like twins in the middle. They paced back and forth, marked centre regularly, and left far more than they played. It worked. They passed the test, now they can dominate the Test tomorrow.

Earlier, Mitchell Starc finally picked up a five-wicket haul against India. It’s taken 21 Tests, but finally the left-armer at least briefly tamed the Kohli and co.

His six-wicket performance was an exhibition in swing bowling at pace. Joining fellow mollydooker Pedro Collins, Starc became the second bowler in history to take a wicket on the first ball of a Test three times.

As a quirk, Collins dismissed the same poor Bangladeshi batter three times within six months.

Pat Cummins was economical with the new ball, and Scott Boland toiled away too. They were all back-up role players to the Starc show.

And then, like he did in Perth, Nitish Kumar Reddy strode to the crease and played shots only Glenn Maxwell would contemplate. A loft over cover? Easy. A reverse slap? No worries. What a talent.

It should come as no surprise that he once made 441 from 345 balls in an under 16 national representative competition.

Batting at seven and given he’s just 21 years old, Reddy will soon cause proper havoc. And he seems to be a man for a crisis, too.

In Perth he came in at 6-79 and steered India to 150 on debut. Today he entered at 5-87. India would not have got close to 180 without Reddy.

These were the ebbs and flows of the game. The subtleties of pink ball cricket dictated that once the tourists were six down, there was no benefit trying to grind and survive until day two.

We - devoted and casual cricket fans alike - need more of it.