MARK BUTCHER
NEW COLUMNIST!
The decision to use the Kookaburra ball, as opposed to the Dukes, for the opening two rounds of the County Championship has provoked plenty of debate, particularly after all but one of the 18 matches ended in draws.
Despite the lack of positive results, Rob Key has declared the trial to be a success and has said he would like the Kookaburra to be a permanent fixture, arguing “English cricket would be much better off for it”.
Accuracy is crucial with the Kookaburra, as is the ability to hit the seam often, and Cook has those attributes in abundance
In my view, they’re looking in the wrong place. We’ve seen many days in both county or Test cricket where bowlers haven’t been able to take wickets with the Dukes, and it’s not the fault of the ball. It’s always the pitches.
The idea that the ball itself is the reason why people do or don’t take wickets, or why spinners do or don’t bowl, is nonsense, and it always has been. We saw an extraordinary number of runs scored at Lord’s in the first round of games, with Sam Northeast making a triple hundred for Glamorgan, but the pitch was incredibly slow and flat and it would have been exactly the same if they’d been using a Dukes.
In my view the idea that using the Kookaburra in England in April can help prepare players for the challenge of Test matches in Australia or South Africa is flawed. The pitches out there are incredibly hard and abrasive and tear balls that the ball won’t reverse or swing much conventionally either. The real measure of to pieces, and therefore the type of cricket that is played is very different to what you’ll experience at this time of year in England, no matter what type of ball you’re using.
The numbers show that over the last 10 years April and July are the two best times to bat, and that’s using the Dukes. It’s so cold in April been a couple of wins from the early-season trial. We’ve seen a lot of spin bowled, mainly because the seamers haven’t been able to do anything with the Kookaburra, and it was heartening to see Shoaib Bashir get a run out for Somerset in the second round of fixtures after being overlooked for the first and Tom Hartley selected alongside Nathan Lyon in Lancashire’s opener, even if the poor weather restricted him to a single over. We’ve even seen part-time off-spinner Dan Lawrence, with his Ministry of Silly Walks action, hoovering up wickets for Surrey.
All that being said, there have whether the Kookaburra has a place in county cricket will come in September, when the experiment is repeated for rounds 12 and 13 of the Championship.
The Kookaburra trial also provided further proof, if it were needed, that Sam Cook is a
