Steven Smith looks set to emulate former West Indies batter Shivnarine Chanderpaul by wearing 'eye blacks' on his cheeks during the second Ashes Test at the Gabba. He trialled the anti-glare strips while batting in the nets during Australia's floodlit training session on Sunday evening ahead of Thursday's day-night, pink-ball fixture in Brisbane.
Smith has played 13 of Australia's 14 previous pink-ball Tests but has not taken to the format in the same way as red-ball cricket: he has only scored one hundred in 24 innings in day-night Tests, averaging 37.04. His record in daytime Tests is far superior, with 35 centuries in 190 innings and an average of 58.31.
"The pink ball in general is just a completely different game," Smith had said during Australia's most recent day-night Test match, a 176-run win over West Indies in Jamaica in July. "Personally, I find it quite tricky just picking the ball up at certain times of the day and things like that, and the way it behaves is completely different to a red one.
"I think people like the spectacle. But as a player, particularly as a batter, it's very challenging. The game can so quickly, and things change really quickly, which you probably don't get so much with a red ball. But yeah, people like watching it, I suppose, so I guess it's here to stay."
The 'eye blacks' - small, black, adhesive strips worn on the cheekbone - that Smith wore in training are commonplace in several American sports, and are designed to reduce the glare from floodlights by absorbing the light that would otherwise reflect off the skin.
Chanderpaul is the most prominent cricketer to have used them previously. "I always used it whenever it was very glary," he told Gulf News in a 2018 interview. "I stick them on and it does help take 60-70 percent of the glare off my eyes, and that was good for me."
Alastair Cook, who played three day-night Tests for England, has identified focusing on the pink ball's black seam as the biggest challenge for batters due to glare. "When the floodlights shine off the pink leather, it distracts from focusing on the black seam - and if you can't see the seam as a batsman, you're in big trouble," Cook wrote in his Sunday Times column.
"Whatever type of cricket you are playing, the seam is your clue as to how the ball will behave… At least you have a chance with a red ball. If it's a pink one under lights, it's nigh-on impossible to pick up the seam and, therefore, decide with confidence which way the ball might move."
Smith's innovation came on the same day that Joe Root questioned whether the Ashes should feature a pink-ball Test, comments which Travis Head dismissed.
Australia lead the five-Test series 1-0 after beating England inside two days in Perth.