Cricket stars to trial pink balls

The pink ball used in day-night Tests has had a mixed reception from players (GETTY IMAGES)

The MCC are this week set to pick the brains of some of the world's best players on the feasibility of pink-ball cricket.

MCC representative Fraser Stewart is being dispatched to gauge the reaction of the likes of Indian superstars Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag after they have used pink balls in net practice.

Tradition will be broken at the end of this month when the English season curtain-raiser between MCC and champion county Durham takes place under lights with a pink ball - and in the United Arab Emirates, rather than Lord's.

Players from three Indian Premier League franchises - Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils - have agreed to test pink balls in the nets as they prepare for this year's tournament.

Stewart, MCC's Laws and universities manager, will supervise proceedings - in which around 150 pink Dukes, Kookaburra and SG balls from nought to 15 overs old will be used.

"The Indian Premier League has embraced the concept of trialling the pink cricket ball and kindly agreed to test them in their practice sessions for MCC," said Stewart.

MCC's fixture against Durham is the next step towards discovering whether pink balls may be used for future Test matches.

Stewart added: "The feedback we'll get from these elite players will be invaluable to us in our research and potentially extremely important for the future of Test match cricket, as pink balls could be the factor required to play day/night Tests."