title: Pink Cricket Balls May Be Visually Challenging at Sunset.
abstract: Cricket is one of the world's most popular sports, followed by hundreds of millions of people. It can be dangerous, played with a hard ball flying at great velocities, and accidents have occasionally been fatal. Traditionally, cricket has been played during the day, using a dark red ball. Since the late 1970s, a shorter form of one-day cricket has been played both during the day and at night under floodlights. To overcome visibility issues, one-day cricket uses a white ball, and players wear coloured clothing. There is now a desire to play a traditional form of cricket during the day and at night, using a 'pink' ball while players wear white clothing. Concerns regarding visibility, and player and umpire safety, have been raised in this context. Here, we report that these concerns have a sound basis.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Joshua M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Adie
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Derek H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Arnold
keywords: colour contrast; cricket; luminance contrast; speed perception