Cricket

Witnessed by two spectators and a steward.

Shame

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Time gentlemen

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Watched the ladies’ cricket series from New Zealand, :new_zealand: clearly Sophie Devine made herself popular with her comments but there was clearly a difference in team performance, which may well have been down to resources

On the other hand weren’t the New Zealand grounds lovely and added so much to the pleasure of watching.

Noticed that when the men played there beautiful county type grounds. Up close and personal.

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Looks like the CC bowlers don’t like the Kookaburra Ball much.

Batsmen cashing in everywhere. Warks are currently 600 for 3.

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Dukes vs Kookaburra: Know the difference between the cricket balls

The Dukes ball’s hand-stitched, pronounced seam and greased leather make it do more in the air and off the pitch compared to the Kookaburra.

25 January, 2022

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Whenever the Indian cricket team travels overseas for a Test series, the Dukes ball and Kookaburra ball generate a lot of attention.

The two cricket balls are different from each other in stitching and coating and also vary from the SG balls used for red-ball matches in India.

The Dukes cricket ball is the preferred Test-match ball for many Indian players as well, including Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav, all of whom have spoken in its favour in the past.

Meanwhile, the Kookaburra ball is favoured by the pacers of Australia and South Africa

So, Dukes vs Kookaburra : What sets them apart?

Where are the Dukes and Kookaburra cricket balls used?

The Dukes ball is used in England, West Indies and Ireland among the Test-playing nations. In India, the SG ball is used while the rest of the Test nations use the Australia-made Kookaburra cricket ball .

Where is the Dukes ball manufactured?

The Dukes ball is made in London by British Cricket Balls Ltd, a sports equipment company currently owned by Indian-origin businessman Dilip Jajodia. The ball was first manufactured by the Duke family around 1760.

Where is the Kookaburra ball manufactured?

The Kookaburra cricket ball is made in Melbourne, Australia by the Thompson family-owned business, Kookaburra Sport. The company has a manufacturing facility in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh as well, which makes equipment for the Indian market.

What is the key difference between the Dukes and the Kookaburra cricket ball?

All six rows of thread on a Dukes ball are stitched by hand, while only the central two rows of thread on a Kookaburra ball are hand-stitched to hold the two halves of leather together. The rest of the rows on a Kookaburra ball are machine-stitched vertically.

The Kookaburra is also flatter than the Dukes, which arguably fits better into a bowler’s fingers.

Why does the Dukes ball’s seam and shape last longer than the Kookaburra’s?

Because there are more rows of thread criss-crossing underneath the two halves of leather, not only does the Dukes ball move more off the seam, its shape and seam also lasts longer than a Kookaburra’s. The hand-stitched, pronounced six rows of thread create more tension and provide more support, allowing the ball to do more off the seam.

This is also the case with the SG, which is also hand-stitched and has the most pronounced seam among the three balls.

Why does the Dukes cricket ball swing more than the Kookaburra?

Grease is applied to the leather during tanning in the manufacturing process of the Dukes ball. There is plenty of rain during the English cricket season, so the ball has to be protected from water, hence the grease. The same is not required in the other balls because it does not rain as much in countries such as India and Australia during the cricket season.

That makes the Dukes cricket ball darker and softer, but as English ground conditions are usually not abrasive, it does not affect the quality of the ball.

The theory goes that the darker the ball, the more grease it has absorbed. This means bowlers can shine the ball better, and make it swing more and for a longer period of time.

Further, English conditions are generally more helpful for swing than Australian or Indian conditions.

Moreover, the longer-lasting seam on the Dukes and the SG also make them more amenable to reverse swing than the Kookaburra.

(SportsAdda)

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Matches played with the Duke seem to offer more to the bowler , and that makes it more interesting.

The 20/20 slog fest becomes a tad boring after a while.

It’s all bias. Everyone know the Kookaburra balls the best. :grin:

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They are just too round!!.

The great Shane Warne and Denis Lillie never complained

They had a lot of success with the Duke Ball in English conditions :face_with_symbols_over_mouth: :face_with_symbols_over_mouth: :face_with_symbols_over_mouth: :face_with_symbols_over_mouth: :face_with_symbols_over_mouth: :exploding_head: :exploding_head: :exploding_head: :exploding_head: :exploding_head:

They were just good regardless of balls. :grin:

After the nerve-shredding excitement of watching Ipswich Town yesterday the more sedate pleasure of a first day this season at Chelmsford. Anticipating another high-scoring bore draw a veritable flurry of wickets this morning … and the beer in the pavillion won’t drink itself!

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Martin Emmerson
BBC Radio Newcastle

Looking through the scorecards, six scores are above 500 in this round of matches, which is not only highly unusual but certainly for the time of the year, and everybody is pointing the finger at the Kookaburra ball.

The Dukes ball returns on Friday and you can guarantee that half the matches will be over in two days or so.

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RIP Deadly Derek - Kent & England icon, a real gentleman too. Uncovered pitches, jumpers for goalposts - from a different era. Not sure what he’d have made of Essex fielders wearing snoods today!

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Very sad. I remember near the end of his career he scored a century for Kent when night watchman. The BBC test match commentators doing the county scores assumed there was a mistake and queried the info. :rofl:

A great bowler. My memory is that he bowled quite fast for a spinner.

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According to the Essex Matchzone commentary he had to face Garth Le Roux first up the next morning too!

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Indeed he did – and there were plenty of ‘sticky dogs’ around in those days. I remember seeing Viv Richards cream him through midwicket off a ball outside off stump, something which didn’t happen much – but Sir IVAR re-wrote many batting rules at the time.

The regular England nightwatchman too IIRC.

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The man who got me into cricket. As the son of Irish immigrants I had no family background in cricket. Watching the Sunday League in black and white I got fascinated by this chap who trundled to the wicket and then completely foxed all the batsman, the least likely looking athlete but a master of his art.
RIP Deadly.

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Deadly was an absolute one off. Like Warne he was very accurate and very difficult to get after. On a drying wicket it was just a matter of time. Loved watching him bowl.

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