MELBOURNE: Kookaburra, the Australian sports equipment manufacturing company, has come up with a specialized kind of ball for T20 cricket, the shortest format of the game which is called the ‘Turf20’ ball.
The ball was used for the first time on a trial basis in a club competition in the Northern Territory of the country last weekend, Cricket Australia’s official website reports.
Kookaburra is expected to continue testing and developing the ball for the next month, before formally offering it to cricket boards around the world towards the end of 2020, which is when Australia will be hosting the World T20 for the first time ever.
Turf20 has been designed, keeping in mind the powerful hitting that features the most in T20 cricket, which will ensure that the ball will stay harder for a longer period of time and “promote balance between bat and ball”.
“As Twenty20 cricket evolved, Kookaburra thought there should be a way to create a ball specific to its needs rather than follow the traditional method of ball-making that is used in Test cricket,” Kookaburra spokesman Shannon Gill told the website.
“A Test ball is designed to gradually deteriorate over 80 overs, this is an integral element to Test cricket. Twenty20 cricket has evolved quite differently; the ball is only needed for 20 overs and the action is more intense and explosive than Test cricket.
“This means gradual deterioration is not as big a factor, instead a ball that meets the demands of the power hitting game has been created.”
“In follow-up feedback, the players responded they did not notice any difference to the way the ball played as far as bounce and speed, but there were comments on the improved hardness of the ball through the 20 overs,” Gill added.
South Australian batsman Alex Ross backed Kookaburra’s initiative as he finds it sensible to have a separate ball to play T20 cricket with.
“As long as it doesn’t bounce differently or change the nature of the game, that way it can only be a positive,” Ross said.
“I noticed later in my innings last week the ball was definitely harder and carried further – which is what you want in T20 cricket.”
