Cricket Ball

Cricket Ball

As you guys have known that Cricket is played with a bat and a ball. So now, I'll tell you that how this ball is made and what type of material is used to make a Cricket ball. 

A Cricket ball is hard, solid ball used to play Cricket. It consists of a cork covered by leather. A cricket ball is made with a core of cork, which is layered with tightly wound string, and covered by a leather case with a slightly raised sewn seam. In a top-quality ball suitable for the highest levels of competition, the covering is constructed of four pieces of leather shaped similar to the peel of a quartered orange, but one hemisphere is rotated by 90 degrees with respect to the other. The "equator" of the ball is stitched with string to form the ball's prominent seam, with six rows of stitches. The remaining two joins between the leather pieces are stitched internally. Lower-quality balls with a two-piece covering are also popular for practice and lower-level competition due to their lower cost.

Two types of cricket balls used in International Cricket. In test Cricket red ball is used to play. As shown in the picture below:

In One Day Internationals, players play with white ball. Picture of white Cricket Ball is given below:

Now some guys will ask me that whats the difference between these two balls. I won't disappoint them by saying that I don't know. First let me explain something about manufacturers of Cricket balls. There are two recognized manufacturers of Cricket ball:  

Kookaburra maintains that their red and white balls are manufactured using the same process apart from the dye used for coloring. They claim that the swing properties of both the balls are similar - as everything, apart from the color, are the same. This, however, is disputed by the players and researchers who claim that the white ball swings more.

Dukes has a different manufacturing process for each of the balls. They claim and tests have proven that the white ball swings more than their traditional red balls. This is due to a polyurethane coating on top of the white-dyed leather to ensure that the ball does not get dirty quickly. This coating makes the ball smoother and changes its aerodynamics thereby assisting swing. 
So there is not much difference between red and white balls. 

Third type of ball is also introduced in some parts of world. Yes, you are right I'm talking about Pink Ball. In Day and Night test matches, players will play with pink Cricket Ball. Australia and New Zealand have played with it last year. In October, Windies will come to UAE to play a series against Pakistan and in that series Day and Night test matches are also included. So, Pakistan and West Indies will play their first match with pink Cricket Ball. Picture of Pink Ball is given below:

These are the 3 balls that are used in cricket history. Good Bye for now. Tomorrow I'll come with a new topic about Cricket.

Thanks!!!

Blogger: Umair Mushtaq