County News: Survey

09/01

Fancy a survey, then try this one from the Grumbler 

or via this QR code.

hopefully that's the right one and not one for me to collect a parcel from the post office - lol.

08/01

Shakib Action Tests

Why the ‘Kookaburra' ball has become a batter’s nightmare.

Simon Wilde.
London Times.
Sunday, 5 January 2024.
PTG 4727-22691.

Test cricket has witnessed something of a perfect storm. Bowlers are having things their own way far more than they used to, and it is not just because we are in an era of exceptionally skilled fast bowlers such as Jasprit Bumrah, Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada and Matt Henry. The dice are now weighted in their favour in a way they were not ten or twenty years ago, one factor being changes to the Australia-made ‘Kookaburra' ball, which is not used for Tests only in Australia but in several other countries as well. 

The alterations to the ‘Kookaburra' since 2020-21 have not been widely publicised but are starting to come under scrutiny as a result of the sharp shift in the returns of top-order batsmen. There has been talk about extra lacquer being applied to make the balls last longer, to counter long standing criticisms of the ‘Kookaburra' that it has little seam, quickly goes soft and cannot be coaxed into extended life through shining. 

There may be other motives at play. Test cricket around the world has been under threat from the shorter formats for years, but there was a view amongst some that Test cricket in Australia had become stale — too homogenised, too predictable. Spicier pitches and balls offering more help have made for a more interesting, if speedier, spectacle.

Additional lacquer is only one suspected piece of fine-tuning to the ball. Another is the presence of a ridge under the seam, created by the centre of the ball being encased in two plastic hemispheres, or cups, which are raised at the point at which they meet. This ridge sits beneath the stitching of the seam — a seam that notoriously used to go flat within 10-15 overs of use, but which now sits prouder for longer, thanks to the ’Saturn’s rings - the three rings of stichings either side of the seam.  Any bowler now hitting the pitch with the seam may hope to see the ball deviate more than before. 

The Laws of Cricket, incidentally, allow some leeway in how a cricket ball is internally constructed, so there is nothing wrong with such modifications. Some insiders, however, think there is a risk that the ridge might become angled and out of line with the seam, to the further advantage of bowlers looking for movement through the air or off the pitch. 

A more bowler-friendly ‘Kookaburra' ball could have a significant impact on the next men's Ashes later this year, making it a lower-scoring series than anticipated, with potential consequences for the kind of team England need. Might they always want to include a spinner, for instance? In Australia’s past two home seasons of Test cricket bowlers have taken wickets faster than at any time since the 1880s.

The ‘Kookaburra' balls used in four rounds of the County Championship last year were not obviously helpful to bowlers — on the contrary — but pitches may have been mainly responsible for that. The ‘Kookaburra' is due to be used in the Championship this coming northern summer as well, but more around mid-summer than previously (PTG 4652-22392, 24 October 2024)..

There are a variety of reasons why seam bowlers may now be enjoying rich picking, chief among them the eagerness of batsmen to bring their white-ball shots into the Test arena. Just as bowlers are taking wickets faster than at any time since 1907, so too their economy rate is higher than it has ever been. Teams are also more intent on winning than they have ever been, rather than playing for a draw, an appetite no doubt sharpened by the advent of a World Test Championship. 

The rise of data analysis, and its focus on match-ups, has also benefited bowlers more than batsmen. Batting at the top of the order in Test cricket has certainly become tougher.  There were only four century stands for the first wicket in the 53 Tests played last year. None of these were in England, where the new ‘Dukes' ball is always a threat, and only one in Australia.

The numbers bear that view out. Pre and post-January 2021, David Warner’s average in Tests in Australia dropped from 66 to 37, while (before this weekend’s Sydney Test) Marnus Labuschagne’s fell from 72 to 51, Steve Smith’s from 67 to 51 and Usman Khawaja’s from 53 to 44. Travis Head is Australia’s only frontline player to have improved his average — from 47 to 55 — but he bats number five. 

Smith said after his hundred at the Gabba. “The seam probably starts to settle down around 30-40 overs and the ball stays quite hard. You see guys batting at five, six, seven that are able to hit the ball hard and get good value for their shots”.

Globally, the period from 2020-24 has been one of the hardest for top-order players, with numbers 1-4 collectively averaging 34.77 compared with the heyday of 2003-07, when their combined figure was 42.40, and first Matthew Hayden, with a score of 380 as an opener, and then Brian Lara, with 400 not out at number three, successively broke the world Test record.