Rob Key, the director of the England men's team, has praised the successful trial of the Kookaburra ball during the early part of the County Championship season. Key expressed his desire to make it a permanent feature for the entire domestic first-class summer. Following the second round of matches using the Kookaburra ball, Key highlighted its positive impact on Test cricket.
The ball's characteristics, which are less favourable to bowlers compared to the traditional Dukes ball, have increased spin bowling, rewarded faster-paced seamers, and allowed batsmen to score big runs once they settled. Key described the overall experience as fantastic and believed that consistently using the Kookaburra ball would greatly benefit English cricket.
Kookaburra success
It is worth noting that all nine matches in the second round of the County Championship ended in draws, which has only happened three times in history. The only positive outcome so far has been Essex defeating Nottinghamshire in their opening match at Trent Bridge. Using the Kookaburra ball, which has a less prominent seam and tends to soften earlier, has played a significant role in these results.
Batting averages have been higher in April in recent years, but the 2024 season has witnessed an exceptional start, with an average of 44.49 runs per wicket, the highest figure for a month since September 1938. Round two saw a record-breaking ten scores of 150 or more in a single set of championship fixtures starting on the same day. Over the past two years in the four rounds with the Kookaburra ball, there have been 39.54 runs scored per wicket, compared to 31.79 runs in 12 rounds with the Dukes ball in 2023.
Rob Key commented on the situation, saying, “The weather has got in the way at times and seven of those nine matches [in round two] could have seen a result. But county cricket is meant to go four days. This week has shown it’s rewarding the right type of players. Cricket is about watching pace bowlers, spinners and really good batting. Four days are about the journey.”
The deployment of spin bowling has notably increased. Slow bowlers delivered 37% of the deliveries in the first two rounds, compared to 17% in the equivalent rounds last year. Key has acknowledged the early success in this regard.
The use of the Kookaburra ball was recommended in 2022 following Andrew Strauss's high-performance review. This is the second season where the Kookaburra ball has been in use. The number of rounds with the Kookaburra ball has increased from two last year to four this summer, and it will return for rounds 12 and 13 in September. Key advocated for half of the season to be played with the Kookaburra ball, but a compromise was reached after a meeting of cricket directors from the counties.
The Impressive Bowlers in Latest Matches
Kasey Aldridge, who took eight wickets for Somerset at the Oval, and Zaman Akhter, who claimed six wickets for Gloucestershire against Yorkshire, including Joe Root and Harry Brook, were among the fast bowlers that caught Key's attention in the latest round of matches. They bowled with good speed and impressed Key. The director of the England team also acknowledged Sam Cook's performance for Essex at Trent Bridge, where he took 10 wickets in the match. Cook has been a consistent performer with 199 championship wickets at an average of 16.84 since 2019.
According to Key, the pitches are slow at this time of the year, and watching medium pacers is not worthwhile. Teams need to find bowlers who are faster or can create opportunities to take wickets. Merely bowling at around 75mph is not sufficient. For those bowlers who are not exceptionally fast, their skills as bowlers become more evident. Key found Sam Cook's performance particularly impressive.
Middlesex has faced significant challenges, having conceded 1,203 runs and taking only 11 wickets in two matches. The pitch at Edgbaston, prepared by groundsman Gary Barwell, was similar to the one used in the previous year, with comparable grass coverage and rolling. However, two potential England players, Matt Potts and Brydon Carse, struggled, as Warwickshire amassed 698 runs for three wickets declared against Durham.
Commenting on the situation, Key stated that the pitch appeared slow, but Potts and Carse possess the necessary skills for international cricket, even if they had bowled on English pitches notorious for their unpredictable movement with the Dukes ball. Key believes that the best bowlers emerge from flat pitches.
Key further pointed out that in India, batsmen in the Test team have impressive averages of 70 in the Ranji Trophy. This suggests that they are not playing with a challenging Dukes ball that behaves erratically. Key emphasised the ambition for the national team to become the world's best for a generation, and adopting similar conditions could contribute to achieving that goal.
Potts, who demonstrated the contrast by scoring an unbeaten 149 as the nightwatchman in the Edgbaston match, expressed no objections to using the Kookaburra ball. Yet, he acknowledged that the spring conditions, particularly the damp outfields, nullify one of the skills that the Australian ball teaches bowlers: reverse swing.
Despite facing criticism from various counties, including Surrey's director of cricket, Alec Stewart, Key's proposal to use the Kookaburra ball throughout the season, without affecting the use of the Dukes ball in home Tests, may encounter difficulties in gaining approval. Making the switch permanent would require consensus among the counties and approval from the England and Wales Cricket Board's professional game committee.