Comparing The Cricket Balls

 

The SG cricket balls, produced in India, have faced a serious backlash in the recent years for their poor quality. Ravichandran Ashwin, the Indian off-spinner, has time and again expressed his disappointment with the manufacture of SG balls. Indian skipper Virat Kohli too has also been very vocal of his opinions about the poor quality of the ball and even suggested that the Dukes ball should be used in test cricket all over the world.

The Dukes and the SG cricket balls, however, are pretty similar to each other as far as their manufacturing techniques are concerned. Both of them are hand stitched, have six rows of stitching and a prominent seam. The only difference is that that thread of the latter is thicker and stitched closer, but this hardly makes any difference in performance of the ball at the highest level. The Kookaburra cricket balls are way different from the other two. They are primarily machine stitched and, as a result, don't have a prominent seam and tend to lose their shine and shape. Despite their inability to assist the bowlers for long, the Kookaburra balls are used by most of the cricketing nations.

Among the three, the Dukes ball has been widely appreciated by players and especially the fast bowlers, quite obviously, as it helps them generate more swing and seam. The Dukes are believed to create a balance between bat and ball in already a batsman's dominated game. They retain their shine and shape for the longest time period. 

In recent years, the Indian team has been absolutely dominant in the longest form of the game at home. Since Virat Kohli took over the Indian test captaincy in 2015, India have lost just two test matches at home and have not lost a single test series in their backyard. Over these six years, we have seen a change in how the pitches have been prepared. The Indian pitches have been predominantly dry and rough but in this period we have seen India produce absolute rank turners. Twice in this period, the pitch of the match was rated poor by the ICC. Through these six years, majority of the games on Indian soil have been done and dusted within the first three days with Indian spinners picking up the major chunk of wickets. The quality of the SG ball, too, has faced many questions through this period.

The extremely abrasive nature of the pitches lately is a major contributor to early scuffing of the SG cricket ball and has lead to heavy criticism for the manufacturers. Whether the quality of the SG ball has recently gone down or not could only be commented by the players taking the field. But keeping in mind the kind of pitches India has produced of late, tends to justify the early wearing of the ball. 

The Dukes balls are used in England and West Indies only, with the former naturally providing more suitable conditions for the ball to survive for long. The overcast conditions and green top wickets aid the Dukes ball to survive for long. Until the Dukes, or even the Kookaburra for the matter, are used in the dry Indian conditions, there's no conclusive evidence to stress on the fact that a single ball should be used in test cricket worldwide. Also, different balls in different countries bring in different challenges and excitement to test cricket.