County cricket set to introduce a new Kookaburra ball for Championship action this summer
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The ECB confirms that the Australian-made Kookaburra ball will be used in two rounds of the County Championship this summer, as English cricket’s governing body looks for alternatives to the supplier of Dukes after complaints that it is easy to bat against.
- County cricket to test the use of an Australian-made ball in action this summer
- The high performance review recommended the use of the Kookaburra ball
- The trial period will be two rounds of action between June 25 and July 13.
- The decision to pilot a new ball comes after criticism of Dukes’ version softened early
County cricket will feature the Kookaburra ball for two full rounds of Championship action this summer.
The ECB informed cricket directors in the 18 blue-chip counties on Friday that they will test Australian-made balls following a recommendation from the high-performance review, chaired by former England captain Andrew Strauss.
The period chosen between June 25 and July 13 coincides with the Ash.
County cricket will trial the use of an Australian-made Kookaburra ball for two rounds in the summer
The decision follows a recommendation from the High Performance Review, chaired by Andrew Strauss.
The Championship today uniformly uses the English-made Dukes ball, which is considered to have much more spin and close than its Australian rival.
The Strauss review group believes that a ball that is easier to hit against due to a lack of lateral movement will encourage the selection of fast, spinning pitchers.
England’s test struggles abroad in recent years have been partly attributed to a lack of development of this type of bowler.
The decision to pilot the Kookaburra ball comes a year after players criticized the Dukes’ version for going soft early on, leading to an unusually high score.
The review group claimed that England’s test struggles abroad could be related to their lack of familiarity with similar balls