England arrived in Brisbane carrying two nagging questions: how had the first Test in Perth slipped away, and more pressingly, how do you beat Australia in a day-night Test? It is a puzzle with a bleak history for visiting teams.
Australia have played 14 day-night Tests -- twice as many as England -- and have lost only once, an eight-run thriller against the West Indies last year when Shamar Joseph produced a stunning seven-wicket burst. The second Ashes Test will start on December 4 at the Gabba, a venue where Australia's pink-ball record looms large over the contest.
No country has embraced the pink-ball format the way Australia has. They have hosted 13 of the 24 day-night Tests ever played, while other nations have cooled on the idea. England, Pakistan, and South Africa have not hosted one since 2017, and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh never have. Australia, however, staged two such matches during the 2021-22 Ashes.
"It's become something that traditionally Australia have been very good at," said Marnus Labuschagne, the format's leading run-scorer. "We've learned over time the different moments of the game and how to play them."
Australia's supremacy stems from a familiar foundation: a world-class bowling attack combined with batters who handle pressure. Since the first pink-ball Test in 2015, Australia have taken all 10 wickets in 27 of 28 innings, the only exception being when South Africa declared nine down. At the centre of their dominance is Mitchell Starc, whose 81 pink-ball wickets nearly double the next highest tally.
Asked if Starc was the best in the format's brief history, Labuschagne replied: "I think the stats would probably say that. It's high pace, it's late swing... the pink ball swings later and more inconsistently, which makes it hard to line up."
England fast bowler Brydon Carse noted how routinely Australia strike early under lights. "They strike early and I think that's going to be important," he said. "Whether that's certain lines that we're bowling or maybe a touch fuller to let it swing. They've played some really good cricket with the pink ball."
Australia also manage their runs wisely. Opponents average just 211 in first innings, while Australia respond with 315, having been dismissed for fewer than 330 only twice. Their run-makers have varied: Labuschagne during his 2019-21 rise, and more recently Travis Head, who has plundered hundreds in three of his past four pink-ball Tests (101 against England, 175 against the West Indies, 140 against India). Fittingly, Australia's only defeat came when Head registered a king pair.
Survival is often as crucial as scoring. Labuschagne recalled a gritty partnership with second-gamer Nathan McSweeney under Adelaide lights against India: "At night... sometimes the ball can be a bit off its axis and it still swings because the conditions here - the humidity, the moisture in the air - the ball really does swing. So maybe trying to give up a few options down the ground... not trying to force the ball too straight, is important."
Still, Australia have shown rare moments of vulnerability. Three day-night Tests have gone down to the wire. In the inaugural pink-ball Test in 2015, Brendon McCullum's New Zealand pushed Australia throughout before the hosts scraped home by three wickets. In 2016-17, Misbah-ul-Haq's Pakistan came within 39 runs of chasing 490 at the Gabba, thanks to a brilliant fourth-innings effort led by Asad Shafiq, until a late, brutal bouncer from Starc ended their charge.
And last year, the West Indies delivered a stunning eight-run upset. Joseph's 7-68 stole the spotlight, but the hidden turning point was a 149-run stand between Kavem Hodge and Joshua Da Silva, rescuing them from 5-64.
These moments give Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum a blueprint. England, under their leadership, have built their identity on chasing the improbable. Of all sides, they would relish "going one better" than Pakistan -- and turning Australia's twilight stronghold into the stage for a defining Bazball heist.