Using the Duke Ball at Home

By Adrian Meredith

England's recent Test success and Duke Ball

MELBOURNE, Australia (TheSportsNEXT) October 24, 2012: Cricket Australia are now looking at using the Duke ball at home in Australia.

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Most of the cricketing world, other than India and England, use the Kookaburra ball, which is created in Australia. This ball has a certain amount of bounce, it swings "normally", deteriorates "normally" and so forth.

The SG ball, as used in India, is generally regarded as having a similar quality to the Kookaburra ball. Nobody has regarded that India's home ground advantage has anything to do with the kind of ball that they use.

However, as I reported earlier, and has been widely proven, the Duke ball, as used in England, has a very different quality to either the Kookaburra ball, or the SG ball.

Quality fast bowlers are able to get either the SG or Kookaburra balls to reverse swing at around the 60 over mark; but with the Duke ball it can reverse swing after 30 overs - if you know what you are doing. Of course, if you aren't used to the Duke ball, it can be hard to do it. In recent times, both Pakistan and South African bowlers were able to get it to reverse swing quickly - Pakistan's bowlers managed it more quickly than England's!

There is no doubt whatsoever that the Duke ball provides England with a significant home ground advantage. Not due to conditions - either the cold and windy conditions of New Zealand or the hot and dry conditions in India. Not due to pitches either - not cracked pitches or dust bowls or anything like that. They get an advantage purely because of the ball.

The Duke ball, however, doesn't actually favour England's bowlers. As proven by both Pakistan and South Africa recently, bowlers from other teams are able to utilise the extra swing better than England can. It doesn't favour England's batsmen either. They are simply used to it.

Of course, it should be noted that England have been using a ball called "Duke" for decades; but it is only in the last 5 or 6 years that it has changed. The "new Duke" came in for the 2009 Ashes series in England - that was the first time it was used in international matches. Of course, it had been used in the English county system for some years beforehand. While England - thanks to Flintoff and Pietersen - were able to remarkably win the previous home Ashes, in 2005, against a top strength Australian side, in actual fact in the 2009 version England probably wouldn't have won if it wasn't for the ball.

The 2009 Ashes series was when Australia lost top spot on the test rankings. Going into the last test, if Australia had won they would have stayed at number 1, but because they lost they plummeted to number 4. Australia had briefly lost top spot the year before; but this time it was for good. It was a significant series for Australia - and for England too. And England won it because of the Duke ball.

In the 2009 Ashes series, England's bowlers were reverse swinging the ball after 30 overs, while Australia's bowlers were lucky to get it to reverse swing at all. You can say that Australia's bowlers weren't as good - but perhaps it was because this was a brand new ball for them. While a few occasionally play in the county circuit and hence had seen it, they weren't used to it enough to get it to reverse swing so well.

While England's batsmen bashed it about, getting used to the extra bounce and the way that the ball handled, the Australian batsmen had no clue.

Since that time, Australia have actually done reasonably well in tests. They had a horror return Ashes in 2010, largely because of some absolutely ludicruous selection choices - but other than that have done reasonably well. If it weren't for that 2009 Ashes series, Australia could well be back ranked number 1 now.

England, in turn, have surged from number 5 up to number 1, largely due to playing more games at home than any other team. While in years past England had no significant home ground advantage - certainly not to the extent that New Zealand and India do - suddenly, thanks to the ball, England were virtually unbeatable at home.

It is only recently - against Pakistan and South Africa - that they have come unstuck at home. Finally, with the "new Duke" ball being about for a while, bowlers outside of England have had a chance to get used to it, and the two teams with undoubtedly the best fast bowlers in the world, Pakistan and South Africa, were able to utilise it.

I have to say that to me the idea of having this new ball, that was so vastly different to any other ball ever seen, and only used in one country, reeks of cheating. The Duke ball is not a fair option. It gives England and unfair advantage.

In my opinion, the Duke ball, or at least the "new Duke" should be banned. Go back to the one that is essentially the same as both the Kookaburra and the SG. It is unfair for one team to be able to use such a vastly different ball to everyone else.

The alternative, unfortunately, is that everyone else use the Duke ball, so that England no longer have that unfair advantage.

And this is what Cricket Australia are looking at doing. Of note, Pakistan are considering the same thing. Undoubtedly other boards will consider the same thing.

The Kookaburra cricket ball company has complained that by using the Duke ball they will essentially force the Kookaburra company into bankruptcy. I don't accept this. Worst case is that Kookaburra will be forced to produce a "Duke-like" ball. And perhaps SG will also produce a "Duke-like" ball. And thus, eventually, we will be back on a level playing field.

So, in short, I support Cricket Australia using the Duke ball at home, for domestic matches. I don't see it as a long-term strategy but if it can defeat the unfair advantage that England has when playing at home, then it can only be a good thing.