England's Rob Key backs full-time use of Kookaburra ball in county cricket
Apr 19, 2024
London [UK], April 19 : England and Wales Cricket Board's managing director Rob Key stands behind his decision to bring the Kookaburra ball into county cricket, claiming it will help England become the greatest in the world at international cricket.
The managing director addressed criticism of the ball's use over the traditional Dukes in the first two rounds of the County Championship season.
The transition to the Kookaburra ball, which is primarily used in international cricket, was proposed in Sir Andrew Strauss' 2022 high-performance review and was trialled last year.
This season, it will be used for four rounds of fixtures before returning in September, however only one of the initial 18 matches played this summer achieved a result - Essex's victory against Nottinghamshire in the first week of the season. The 17 others finished in draws, however some were also impacted by the weather.
"My view is, the better the conditions for batting, the more you find out about your bowlers. Bowlers are so important in winning games. Batsmen set up games and bowlers are the ones that win it," Key told Sky Sports.
"I also believe that for us to have a great era of English cricket, which everyone in these sorts of jobs wants, it's about bowlers and being able to produce - not necessarily 95mph bowlers, but it's clear that for the best teams, it's sort of 85mph plus," he added.
The Kookaburra ball has a less prominent seam and softens earlier, making it more difficult for bowlers to master than the Dukes, which aid in seam and swing bowling.
Key stated that studying medium pacers on slow fields was a waste of time and that fast bowlers should improve by using their pace and bounce.
"In our domestic system, that's currently not a necessity. Over the last sort of 10-15 years, we've had conditions that have really suited medium pacers, especially bowlers under 80mph. These guys have run riot, including my good mate Darren Stevens. It has really rewarded that type of bowler, which is so far removed from what we need in Test cricket and one-day cricket. I wanted something that would replicate international conditions more," he added.
