In discussion: the use of the Kookaburra ball in county cricket

Today, I look at the use of the Kookaburra ball in the English domestic game and how it could be improved.

County cricket’s experiment with the Kookaburra ball has split opinion in the domestic game.

It has been a hot topic of conversation recently, with the experiment now in its third year. It came about after a review of English cricket in 2022, following England’s latest Ashes defeat in Australia.

To better England’s chances down under, and indeed in other countries, the ECB theorised that using a Kookaburra in the County Championship would get players up to speed with the ball used in different conditions.

Whilst I see the thinking behind the move, I do think it has made red ball cricket for those particular rounds very dull.

Some of the numbers are scathing. Just 37% of games with a Kookaburra ball have ended in a positive result since the start of 2023, as per Dan Kingdom over on X. That is compared to 57% of games with a Dukes ball in the same timeframe.

So, they definitely make for draw-heavy games. Draws can, of course, be entertaining. However, they have very much dominated by the batting side.

Take Surrey’s draw at The Oval against Durham last week. They scored 820/9 declared, a club record in the Championship, before bowling the visitors out for 362. After following on, Durham managed 262 without loss to secure a draw.

Surrey’s 820 was the highest score in the latest round and contributed to a record 4508 runs in the first innings. The official County Championship X account confirmed that it was the most runs in the first innings of a round of matches ever.

Unlike the Dukes ball, which maintains a pronounced seam and stays harder for longer, the Kookaburra goes soft and out of shape quickly. This certainly favours the batting team, because the ball simply offers nothing to the bowlers.

Aside from the heavy run-scoring we saw, the Kookaburra rounds have seen plenty of overseas spinners sign for several counties.

Australian trio Chris Green, Todd Murphy and Corey Rocchiccioli played for Lancashire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire, respectively. Surrey had New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner for the last two rounds, and Indian left-arm spinner Sai Kishore joins for the next two.

I originally said on X that I like the overseas recruitment for Kookaburra rounds and appreciate the strategy that goes into signing the right spinners.

It is a double-edged sword, though, that I hadn’t considered at first. Domestic spinners now get less of an opportunity if their county signs a specialist with the Kookaburra ball.

Lancashire’s Tom Hartley is a prime example. He is a man with five test caps, 22 wickets and a seven-wicket haul in India. However, he didn’t get into his county side for a round of games aimed at helping players like him get better at bowling with the Kookaburra ball.

Of course, the counties are entitled to sign and play who they want, but there is seemingly less opportunity for English spinners than the ECB perhaps may have hoped.

How could the experiment be improved?

Those are some of the issues that stand out to me, but how can the ECB change the experiment to get the best out of it?

I came up with a couple of ideas which could allow the best of the best domestic players to play with the Kookaburra ball.

The first of those is to play more England Lions games. Since the end of January 2023, the Lions have played nine official first-class games, although just three of those games have been played with a Kookaburra.

The ECB could look to schedule more ‘A’ games overseas in the winter, playing in places which use a Kookaburra ball. Imagine a three or five-match series in New Zealand or South Africa, the next generation going up against each other, and the best domestic English players getting used to a new ball and new conditions.

The other potential option opens the door to far more players to get used to using the Kookaburra, and that is to bring back the North vs. South series.

Originally a 50-over contest held at the end of the 2010s, it pitted the best of the best from the domestic game against each other in a North/South split.

I propose that the ECB bring this back, as a first-class contest, once again held in the winter overseas.

Not only would it expose two full squads of players with England potential to playing with the Kookaburra ball, but it would also get plenty of players used to overseas conditions.

I think these ideas certainly tick the box of practising with the Kokaburra ball regularly, whilst not affecting the county game with what have ultimately been unbalanced contests between bat and ball.

There is one overarching issue, however, and that is the increase in T20 franchise cricket. Many domestic English players are in demand across the world over the winter, with plenty of franchise cricket available. The logisttics of that would need to be sorted.

Finding a time in the calendar for more Lions games, or a North vs. South series, isn’t easy, but I definitely think it would enhance what England are aiming to do.

In the meantime, it will be fascinating to see if there is more balance to county matches in the upcoming Kookaburra rounds and what the future holds for the experiment.