Types of Cricket Ball

The making of a cricket ball requires a lot of efforts and hard work which starts with the woodcutters. The ball is then shipped to the manufacturing factory where craftsmen work for hours and hours to give the required shape to the ball.

The sole essence of a cricket ball is cork, regardless of whatever the outer leather of a ball may look like. The cork is skillfully cut and wound tightly by strings to hold them together. A closer look at the ball suggests there are 6 stitches around the equator, 3 on either half but so neatly stitched that we cannot see the hemispheres individually.

The International Cricket Ball: Red, White and Pink

Balls used for International matches are available in three variants. The ball market is single handedly dominated by 3 different manufacturing companies (SG, Kookaburra and Dukes) since years. The most famous of them all is Kookaburra, made in Australia. Kookaburra supplies the white ball for ODIs and T-20s, while the Dukes supplies the red ones for test matches played in England and West Indies. The Meerut- based company, Sanspareils Greenlands, better known as SG manufactures test balls for use in India. The pink ball is still to make its mark at the international level but has been used in different first- class leagues.

Cricket balls are traditionally red, and red balls are used in Test cricket and First-class cricket.

White balls were introduced when one-day matches began and they were played at night under floodlights, as the white balls are eyecatchy and more visible at night; all professional one-day matches are now played with white balls, even when they are not played at night. The white balls are found to behave differently as compared to the red balls, on observation it is seen that the white balls swing more during the first half of an innings than the red ball, and they degrade more quickly.
Manufacturers say that white and red balls are made using the same methods and materials, other than the dying treatment of the leather. Another problem with white cricket balls are that they are used in One Day Internationals which makes them become dirty or dull in colour, and it becomes difficult for the batsmen to hit the ball after 30-40 overs of use.

Pink balls came in  2000s for the Tests and first-class matches played at night. The red ball were not suitable for the night tests due to poor visibility, and the white ball was improper for the first-class cricket , so the pink ball was designed to provide for good result to fix both issues.
The pink ball was used for the first time in an international match in July 2009, on a one- day match between England and Australian Women Cricket match. when the England Woman's team defeated Australia in a one-day match at Wormsley. Then the pink ball was used in a day-night Test match for the first time in November 2015. Afterwards experiments were made on other colors such as yellow and orange which could provide a glowing composite for night visibility, but pink was always considered as the better option.

Content: www.sportskeeda.com