Australia’s star batter Steve Smith looks set to follow in the footsteps of former West Indies great Shivnarine Chanderpaul by wearing ‘eye black’ strips on his cheeks during the second Ashes Test at the Gabba. Smith trialled the small black adhesive strips during a floodlit training session on Sunday evening, preparing for Thursday’s highly anticipated day-night, pink-ball fixture in Brisbane.
Smith, who has played 13 of Australia’s 14 previous pink-ball Tests, has historically struggled to replicate his red-ball dominance under lights. In day-night Tests, he has managed just one century in 24 innings, averaging 37.04, while his record in traditional daytime Tests remains exceptional, with 35 hundreds from 190 innings at an average of 58.31.
Steve Smith adopting the under-eye stickers to help him see the pink ball under the floodlights – as Marnus nicknames him “Shiv” #Ashes pic.twitter.com/kdfAxsxtdK
— J (@Atique2303) November 30, 2025
With the Gabba set to host the series’ first day-night encounter, all eyes will be on Smith and his eye black strips as he attempts to tackle one of the toughest challenges in modern cricket: mastering the pink ball under lights.