by COLIN JAMES

in Antigua

REAL MEN might wear pink. But come Friday, real regional first-class cricketers will be facing up to a pink ball - not a red nor a white.

For the first time in the region, a four-day first-class cricket match will be played during the day and night at the Vivian Richards Stadium using a pink ball.

The historic match will be played between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies Cricket Board's tournament starting Friday at 1 p.m.

Ernest Hilaire, the chief executive officer of the WICB, speaking at the launch at a Press conference yesterday at the Stadium, explained the reason behind the use of the pink ball, saying it was part of a worldwide experiment to test it with a view to playing day-night Test matches within a few years.

He also responded to comments about the durability of the pink ball and Monday's Daily Observer's cartoon, which suggested that the WICB should "wheel and come again".

"The longer version of the game is played with white clothing. The shorter version (One-Day International and Twenty20) used coloured clothing.

"So, if you are going to use a white ball for the longer version, the first thing you have to do is change the clothing because you wouldn't see a white ball with white clothing.

"So once there's a decision to keep white clothing for the longer version of the game, you cannot use a white ball," Hilaire said.

"There's a serious problem with the white ball as far as discolouration is concerned," he added, explaining that the white ball has had to be changed a few times during a ODI, and it would mean that for a four-day game or Test matches there is likely to be several changes in an innings.

He said once the International Cricket Council (ICC) endorsed the use of the pink ball for trial, it was incumbent on the WICB to follow suit.

He said the balls arrived recently for the WICB tournament because if was only in November that the regional board approved the use, and the order with the suppliers took six weeks to be filled.

The Antigua and Barbuda government and cricket authorities are also using the historic match to re-establish the Vivian Richards Stadium as a premier venue after the one-year ban imposed by the International Cricket Council last February in the wake of the aborted Test match between the West Indies and England.

The ban is due to expire next month. The stadium will not host an international game during the West Indies home series.