Steve Smith leads his players out during a Test match last year.

According to South African captain AB de Villiers, Smith has been a chief behind-the-scenes voice in convincing the Proteas there are “too many unknowns” to proceed with Adelaide’s day-night Test in November.

However, CA hit back at de Villiers’ assertions of a “meeting” between the two playing groups – claiming the batting superstar had unfairly misrepresented Smith’s attitude towards the pink ball concept.

Steve Smith leads his players out during a Test match last year.Source:Getty Images

It’s understood Smith, like many Australian players, is a believer in the big picture of day-nighters’ potential to grow Test cricket, but has ongoing concerns over whether the durability and visibility of Kookaburra’s pink ball is up to international standard.

CA high performance manager Pat Howard has been in regular contact with Smith and is convinced he remains a strong supporter of day-night Tests, labelling de Villiers’ comments, which individually named the Australian captain, as disappointing.

“I didn’t think it was fair, but that’s fine, I’ll let it go and we’ll just keep working with our guys,” said Howard.

“I find Steve absolutely fantastic … in terms of finding the balance in terms of the history and working towards trying to innovate for the fans. He’s been really good to work with and you get really nice feedback.

“Steve is absolutely integral. His feedback in terms of personally representing the players really importantly, he’s been wonderful to deal with in that regard.

“(de Villiers’ comment) definitely doesn’t represent any communication we’ve had together with him.”

The naming of Smith by de Villiers as a doomsayer of the concept sparked confusion in cricket circles given the Australian skipper had praised last year’s inaugural Adelaide showpiece a “great innovation and a great spectacle”.

Cricket Australia are adamant Smith’s behind-the-scenes dialogue with them has reflected his public approval.

But CA accepts there is resistance within their own ranks.

According to the Australian Cricketers’ Association, South Africa’s representation of the misgivings of Australian players, generally speaking, is absolutely accurate.

“The players have continued to show a willingness to support innovation but there are some genuine concerns about the durability and visibility of the pink ball which is yet to be improved to a satisfactory level,” said ACA boss, Alistair Nicholson.

“We can absolutely appreciate that the South African players are concerned about using a pink ball in conditions that they haven’t experienced before, and given the recent poor trial in the Sheffield Shield in February, then I’m not surprised the Australian players would have provided them this feedback.

Players were happy with a new-look black seam added for a day-night Shield match a couple of months ago, but were damning of the overall performance of that batch of balls.

Steve Smith and David Warner inspect the pink ball during a Shield match. Picture: Sarah Reed.Source:News Corp Australia

Convincing players by November that the pink rock is reliable remains CA’s biggest challenge.

“I’m not sure it went backwards but we didn’t go forwards, would be my view,” said Howard, who says players will be given a chance to practice with the pink ball following July’s Test tour of Sri Lanka.

“We’re going to have to continue to improve. I’ve talked to the ACA and Steve Smith about this. I’ve spoken to him a couple of times recently while he’s been in India. We’ve absolutely got to be of the position that we’ve got to continually improve and every time we play with any type of ball that we continue to find a way to make it better and to give everyone confidence around it.

“Making sure the fans can get Test match cricket outside of work hours, I think everyone is over the line on that (with the virtues of day-nighters). Playing Australia is always going to be a big series no matter (which country) it’s. I think your next challenge obviously is to make sure they have as much confidence in the pink ball as they do in the red ball.”