Australia’s preparations for the second Ashes Test took an intriguing turn in Brisbane as Steve Smith arrived at training with black anti-glare strips under his eyes, a look instantly compared to the trademark style of former West Indies batter Shivnarine Chanderpaul. The timing of the experiment, just days before the pink-ball contest at the Gabba, added further weight to Smith’s ongoing search for answers in a format that has consistently pushed him outside his comfort zone.
Australia hold a 1–0 advantage in the series, but the day-night Test looms as a decisive chapter, particularly for Smith. Few modern batters possess a career as prolific as his in red-ball cricket, yet the pink ball continues to present a puzzle. Across 24 innings in the format, he has managed only one century and an average a little above 37, a stark contrast to his overall Test numbers that include 35 hundreds and an average near 60.
The biggest hurdle, Smith has long maintained, is visibility, a battle magnified during twilight and under floodlights, when the pink ball’s trajectory and seam can be hardest to detect. His willingness to adopt eye black reflects a methodical attempt to counter that, especially with another night Test on the horizon.
“The pink ball is a completely different game. I find it quite tricky to pick up at certain times of the day, and it behaves very differently from a red ball,” Smith said during Australia’s recent day-night Test against West Indies in Jamaica.
Chanderpaul and Cook tried same in the past
Chanderpaul once swore by the same anti-glare strips, convinced they sharpened his vision in difficult viewing conditions. Smith’s nod to that template signals both a respect for unconventional solutions and an urgency to overcome a challenge that has lingered for years.
He is not the only player to highlight the difficulties of the format. Alastair Cook has previously described the struggle to read the pink ball’s seam under lights, suggesting that early misjudgment can quickly snowball into survival mode. Meanwhile, Joe Root’s criticism of scheduling a pink-ball Test in the Ashes has reignited debate around the fixture, a stance dismissed publicly by Travis Head.
Whether Smith’s eye black experiment becomes part of his match-day routine remains uncertain. But in a series already packed with narratives, his latest adjustment adds yet another storyline as Australia aim to strengthen their grip on the urn.
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