Why Adelaide is perfect for the pink ball Test

pink ball

Australia all-rounder Steve O'Keefe believes Adelaide is the perfect place for the first ever day-night Test.

New Zealand and Australia do battle in the historic five-day game starting at the Adelaide Oval on Friday.

O'Keefe, now part of the squad that leads the three-Test series 1-0, said there was no better place for the ground-breaking game.

"In my experience, I've played three pink-ball games, and each time it seems to have got better, the quality of the ball," he told a news conference on Monday.

"I can't really comment on the other grounds, but from what I hear, this is probably the best ground.

"It still does a bit. It's still going to have its unique characteristics. It's going to nip around and at night, depending on the dew, it may slide on. It may spin, it may not.

"I think in regards to the ball holding up, leaving that bit of extra grass on it certainly did help when we had to play here.

"It kept the ball in as good a nick as possible, but still retaining some of its characteristics.

"Being able to get the ball to reverse, we've been able to do that here, to get the ball to move off the seam, when it's hard it does and it still swings.

"In my opinion, this is the best ground to play with the pink ball."

O'Keefe is part of a 13-man squad in Adelaide, but appears unlikely to feature in the final XI.

The 30-year-old left-arm spinner and right-handed batsman said conditions would prove decisive in the make-up of the final team.

"We've seen in the past, with the last two games that were played out there, that it offers the seamers a fair bit but it also offers spinners a little bit off the straight, off the good part of the wicket," O'Keefe said.

"The selectors are going to have a mindful decision to make."

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