Play is already starting at 09:30 local time in Durban. This is the first October Test at Kingsmead, where the sun sets shortly after 18:00 at this time of year on South Africa's eastern coast.

Still, on day one, play was halted at 15:23 local time after clouds built. Only 65.2 of the scheduled 90 overs had been bowled and the players were unable to return.

Day two was slightly better with play continuing until 16:25, but that finish was still 35 minutes earlier than it could have been. Day three's end came at 16:31.

On each occasion, the first two sessions have been played in hot, sunny conditions, only for clouds to build in the afternoon - a familiar weather pattern in Durban.

"Very quickly in the morning, as temperatures have risen inland as the sun heats the ground, a sea breeze has formed with winds coming from the sea into Durban," said BBC weather presenter Chris Fawkes.

"This has increased humidity levels through the morning and brought some cloud in. As temperatures have started to fall again towards the evening, this has increased the relative humidity with the air getting increasingly saturated.

"That has caused the cloud to get thicker and lower."

One narrative exists that the pink ball moves more under floodlights, though that is not backed up by ball tracking data.

Instead, various batters have spoken about the pink ball being more difficult to see. Batting averages are lowest in the evening of day-night matches.

Australia have also played in 15 of Test cricket's day-nighters - 10 more than anyone else.

Unsurprisingly, the four leading wicket-takers in day-night matches are all Australians. Left-armer Mitchell Starc's haul of 89 wickets in 15 Tests has positioned him as the undisputed pink-ball king.

You would not blame teams if they would rather face Australia with the red ball.

Former South Africa bowler Vernon Philander said he prefers the idea of switching balls during the match if conditions require it, but that would raise questions over the Test's integrity.

Is the potential injustice of one team having to face a pink ball outweighed by the need to get more action of the field?

"They have to take it out of the hands of the players completely and enforce it from the umpires' point of view that the pink ball will become in play when the light has faded enough," Philander said.

"You are always going to have the argument of who is ahead of the game.

"I would like to see the ICC enforce it on to the officials to make that call."