With apologies to any fans of ITV’s, now abandoned, On the Ball football highlights programme, what follows is a consideration of the ideal cricket ball.
The post comprises a series of thought experiments, with little (no) actual research or science to support them…but there might be some hypotheses that could be worth further investigation.
This has become a rather lengthy post, so I have included a Table of Contents.
- Dukes? Kookaburra? Something else?
- What do we know about the Kookaburra?
- The ideal cricket ball
- Possible alternatives to the traditional cricket ball
- So, what might that ideal ball be?
- Conclusion
Dukes? Kookaburra? Something else?
The County Championship is experimenting with the (Australian) Kookaburra ball for 4 rounds of Championship cricket in 2024. The first two rounds, in early April, have had decidedly mixed reviews, according to Vitushan Ehantharajah and Matt Roller on CricInfo — from “fantastic” (Rob Key, former Sky pundit and current ECB Men’s Managing Director) to “worst decision ever” (many experienced bowlers and coaches).
Sixteen matches played, 27,840 balls bowled, 16,817 runs scored, 378 wickets taken — yet only one outright result.
Ehantharajah & Roller, ESPN CricInfo
Results could be interpreted either way.
Batters getting to play long innings. Bowlers challenged to take wickets with the (bowler unfriendly) Kookaburra. No more 5 wicket hauls for “English” medium pace seamers, so more overs bowled by spinners.
But the additional overs bowled by spinners do not necessarily point to a resurgence of spin, only the inability of County seamers to take wickets with the Kookaburra on soggy, April pitches.
Only one result in 16 matches (many, admittedly, spoilt by the rain — let’s not talk, here, about the wisdom of scheduling major cricket this early in the year) might point to a skills deficit amongst the bowlers (hence a development opportunity) or (and) to the unsuitability of a ball developed for Australian conditions for use in England & Wales, especially in April.
Anecdotally, bowlers complained about the Kookaburra going soft and out of shape, but there were few (if any?) ball changes reported across the first two rounds of the County season.
It must be added that the one game to produce a result was won by the excellence of the Essex seam attack, lead by Sam Cook (aided, it would appear, by the inability of the Notts batting to hit straight deliveries — 14 dismissed bowled or LBW across their two innings).
That something needs to be done to make County Cricket more like Test cricket is undeniable.
Changing the ball seems a sensible place to start.
What do we know about the Kookaburra?
The Kookaburra features a (largely cosmetic) row of machine stitching around the seam, whereas the Dukes has an entirely hand stitched seam.
Traditional swing, as mediated by seam or contrasting surface conditions, appears harder to achieve than with the Dukes ball, and much harder to maintain for any length of time. Conversely, reverse swing can be achieved more readily, on the more abrasive outfields in Australia, at least, even without resorting to sandpaper
George Dobell wrote about the new Kookaburra{££} used in the 2023 World Cup. This was the white, ODI ball, but it must be possible (likely) that the same construction technique is used more widely.
A layer of reinforced plastic was inserted under the seam in an apparent attempt to lengthen its lifespan and, perhaps, allow bowlers to gain more movement.
No longer just a tightly wound ball of twine around a rubber core, encased with leather, held together with stitching. the latest Kookaburra, as used in the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India, incorporates a reinforced plastic shell beneath the leather casing.
In fact, this is not even “top level” technology, any more. I am reliably informed that the balls used in the County Seniors Championship last summer, supplied by Stonehill, also included a shell. And those balls certainly seemed to retain their shape and hardness better than some we have used…not that we hit the ball that hard in Over 60s cricket!
But the Aussie Kookaburra might be the wrong ball for First Class cricket in England and Wales, especially in April.
Perhaps the authorities need to talk to Dukes, the makers of British Cricket Balls (the clue might be in the name!)
The ideal cricket ball
How do we want our ideal cricket ball to behave?
- “Feels” right on the bat and in the hand.
- Bounces consistently — height and pace (pitch dependent, obviously).
- Appearance/colour — it has to look like a cricket ball.
- Degrades with use, but (ideally) does not go out of shape, get soft, or fall apart.
- Swings through the air when new, but less as it gets older.
- Allows spin (deviation off the pitch due to rotation of the ball, applied by the ball) & spin swerve (deviation in flight due to applied rotations).
Feel & bounce
Not to deny the importance of feel & bounce, but this one is actually easy (to define, if not to achieve) — whatever we do with the ball, it has to feel like a “proper” leather cricket ball. Neither harder on the hands, nor softer off the bat.
It can’t be like the “juiced” balls (allegedly) introduced to increase scoring in MLB — cricket has had its “big bat” moment, and doesn’t need another.
Appearance & colour
It has to look like a cricket ball, both for aesthetic reasons, but also practical.
The colour of a cricket ball directly impacts visibility.
White balls under floodlights, and against coloured clothing and full crowds, have been found to be the easiest to discern.
Ideally, however, and in marked contrast to the white Kookaburra, it needs to stay white, and not degrade to a murky grey.
Red, whilst not ideal in all light conditions and against some backgrounds, and a disastrous choice for anyone red-green colour blind, works in most situations.
Degradation
The behaviour of a cricket ball changes as it wears. It swings less, bounces less, flies off the bat less powerfully.
And, for the longer formats, this is very much a part of the game. Changing conditions require different skills. Tall quicks to make the most if early bounce with the hard ball, then return to exploit reverse swing. Swing bowlers and spinners to take advantage of the ball in mid-innings.
That variety is one of the great joys of First Class cricket, and the changing condition of the ball contributes to it.
Surface wear
A leather cricket ball is a thing of exquisite beauty (perhaps only to a bowler?), but that beauty is fleeting. As soon as the ball hits the pitch for the first time, or the bat, or runs across an abrasive outfield, that fresh shine is tarnished. And no amount of polishing can ever return it to its original perfection.
Swing is lost when the surface and/or seam deteriorate too far, or the ball goes out of shape, either by hitting a hard surface (spectator stands) or by the core swelling when it gets wet.
It happens. It challenges players to deploy different skills.
Sphericity
I am convinced that the sphericity of the cricket ball is vital to controlled, deliberate, swing.
As evidence, the new ball (as perfectly spherical as the ball will ever be) swings without polishing, mediated only by seam position at the moment of release. Older balls also continue to swing, but, in the professional game, at least, lose their shine and stop swinging (at least, naturally) over time. Balls also stop swinging when they go out of shape, and fail the umpires’ ring gauge test.
And commentators (and batters) frequently complain that the replacement balls must be in better condition because they immediately start to swing. But it could be that this is because the replacement balls are not out of shape.
One of the supposed benefits of the Kookaburra ball with an inner plastic shell is that it might help bowlers to get more movement. Swing is a surface effect — an inner shell will maintain the shape of the ball, but surely can’t change the outer leather surface? So if it works, it does so by maintaining the sphericity of the ball.
An aside — The Aggot
The flat Aggot, or K bowl, seems to argue against the importance of sphericity. These practice balls will swing, if bowled correctly, but are very obviously not spherical. In fact, they are essentially little more than a seam!
But it could be that the important factor is not, in fact, the sphericity of the ball, but the uniformity of the two sides. The new ball has practically no difference between the two sides. Neither does the Aggot (as it has two almost perfectly flat sides).
Spherical is best
A spherical ball is required for cricket, however — the flat-sided Aggot will bounce quite randomly if it does not land directly on the seam area, making batting almost impossible.
So we need a perfectly spherical ball, which does not lose its shape.
Swing
Dr Rabindra Mehta, a NASA scientist and former school friend of Imran Khan, has researched the science of swing for more than 40 years, and has provided the most detailed explanation of conventional (seam-mediated), contrast, and reverse swing.
National sport reporter David Mark and the Digital Graphics at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation produced this rather wonderful digital explainer, based on Mehta’s work.
But, essentially, we have
- new ball (“conventional”) swing — mediated by seam position;
- old(er) ball swing — contrast, where one side of the ball is shinier than the other;
- reverse swing — also a contrast swing, with extreme surface degradation and only achievable at higher bowling speeds.
Conventional swing requires a relatively large seam, clean from debris.
Contrast swing requires that contrast — smooth side, rough side. Conventional & contrast can work together — seam angled to slips, shiny side to leg, ball swings towards the slips.
Reverse swing is an apparent anomaly, where the ball swings in the opposite direction to what would be expected from the relative smoothness of the two sides of the ball. It seems to occur at faster speeds, so can be devastating when it does happen. And when it starts to happen with an old ball, when the batters might be expecting an easier time, it arouses suspicion.
But there is nothing illegal in the skill to deliver reverse swing, any more than contrast swing, only in the techniques used to “manage” the ball (a euphemism for ball tampering) to get it swinging more, or for longer, or (in the case of reverse, with the requirement for more extreme surface degradation) sooner.
Possible alternatives to the traditional cricket ball
Leather outer, modified core
As Alison Mitchell wrote for The Nightwatchman, in 2015, the red colouration of a proper cricket ball is achieved predominantly by dying the leather, then applying aniline dye (which comes off as the red stain on cricket trousers) and synthetic buck fat (warm liquid wax). It is the raw leather, and the heat applied to the buck fat by polishing, that generates the distinctive shine.
Other colours, such as white for ODI balls or pink for day-night matches, are applied mostly by spraying pigment on top of the surface.
With current technology, red is the only colour that can be consistently dyed into the leather, rather than applied to the surface. Meaning the leather of a red ball can be polished, rather than the pigment coating cleaned. It matters, as long as swing is contrast-mediated (shiny side / rough side).
So perhaps some research into stable dyes for yellow & pink? White will remain a pigment coating, presumably, as it has to mask the natural colour of the leather.
Or accept that non-red balls will always behave differently to “proper” cricket balls — maybe not a problem, if high run scoring is favoured over variety and finesse in the various limited over formats
And bowlers with the white ball will be challenged to develop new (or not so new) skills, such as spin-swerve.
A modified core is inevitable, I think, to retain sphericity, for moisture resistance — twine+rubber with a plastic shell might be the way to go, but I would be amazed if an entirely synthetic alternative could not be created.
Synthetic outer, modified core
Creating a synthetic outer that behaves and feels like leather has proved problematic (although I don’t know what actual research has been carried out, beyond a few commercial experiments).
Could “synthetic leather” be coloured? And polished for contrast swing?
Why not an entirely synthetic outer? Bowling machine balls don’t feel that strange in the hand, and the material has never been deliberately optimised for handling.
Synthetic outer & core
Curiously, a prototype of this is already in widespread use — the moulded bowling machine ball answers to many of the design requirements.
Bounce, and feel off the bat, are much like a leather ball. Machine-applied spin creates deviation off the pitch (true for better all-weather indoor surfaces, at least — don’t know about grass), not dissimilar to what a good spinner can achieve. And “swing” with a bowling machine is actually spin-swerve.
So, what might that ideal ball be?
A bowling machine ball actually ticks most of the boxes, with the exception of seam- or contrast-swing.
And if we allow that “polishing” or “managing” the ball can lead to the temptation to ball tampering, then it might be as well to look at “seam” mediated swing that lasts for longer (but that still decreases as the ball ages).
Could a moulded seam be introduced, using a material that will erode over the course of 80 overs (when a new ball is available in FC cricket)?
And if the ball allows reliable seam-mediated swing, there is perhaps no need for contrast swing, nor the temptation to try for reverse, by fair means or foul?
Alternatively, if contrast swing really is required, perhaps a moulding with one half of the casing smoother than the other. Again, wear and tear during play would gradually reduce the difference between the two halves of the moulded casing, reducing the amount of contrast swing available.
Conclusion
Obviously, there are a lot of “perhaps” and “maybe” in this article.
But it is at least possible to imagine an alternative to the traditional cricket ball, that might allow for all of the skills of the game as we know it today, plus the reintroduction of spin-swerve, and without the occasional production blip, excessive wear, or temptation to ball tampering associated with the traditional (admittedly very beautiful) leather cricket ball.
The Teesra 
What do you think? Leave a reply.