Choosing the Right Cricket Ball

There is much more to a cricket ball than the classic red leather ball used in matches.

The traditional leather cricket ball has a cork core which is covered by layers of tightly wound string, and an outer case of leather. This case is in four quarters, with one hemisphere rotated by 90 degrees relative to the other. The two hemispheres are held together by six rows of string stitching, forming a slightly raised seam.

Cricket balls vary in price from high quality match balls to club or school practice balls, so you don’t need to pay for test match quality to use for net practice. You can also economise by buying in bulk, as most types of ball are available in boxes of six.

The leather of a new ball is polished, and the fielding side will try to keep one side of the ball shiny and let the other side become rough. A skilled seam bowler will be able to use this difference to make the ball swing through the air, or deviate off the pitch by landing it on the seam. A spin bowler uses his wrist and fingers on the seam to rotate the ball rapidly, so that it turns even more sharply off the pitch.

For seam or spin bowling, bowlers need to keep the seam of the ball in the same orientation during it's flight. Its much easier to practice this when the two halves of the ball are different colours, so the bowler can easily see the orientation of the ball he has delivered. For example, the Gray Nicolls “Technique” is a red/white match ball, while their “Wonderball” is a red/white “safety ball” with foam interior, plasticised case and a six stitch seam.

Other cricket balls are coloured simply to aid their visibility. Easton makes several variations of their original “Incrediball” safety ball, including all white, the red with white seam “Visiball”, and the luminous orange “Twilight” ball.

White leather balls are used for improved visibility under floodlights in international matches, or simply for better sighting in evening or indoor cricket. For example, Readers can supply leather balls for these purposes in white, as well as orange, yellow and red/white.

For either cricket training or simply having fun in the park or the garden, the Readers “Windball” is an all purpose soft orange ball that is highly visible and won’t break any windows!

For even more innovative training aids, try the Gray Nicolls “Catch Master” and “Catch Reactor”, and their “Batting Master”. The “Warne Spin Ball” also has spinning finger positions marked, so your junior cricketer can learn to emulate the great spin king himself!

Getting kitted out for the new season, or simply looking for new cricket gear? Why not check out my tips on buying cricket bats, cricket bags, cricket shirts, cricket shoes and cricket balls.

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