Cricket Ball Making in Pakistan

[Cricketismylife]

Just saw this video on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rzm1ASsV90&feature=related

Anyone know what company is it? :rana

 

[SempreSami]

I see Slazenger logos on the wall.

 

[Cover Drive]

Pakistan is one of the best maker of the balls indeed.

It could be Grays and there balls are very very good but the good quality ones are sent to UK and none of those good ones are sold to localist in Pakistan.

 

[Cover Drive]

I see Slazenger logos on the wall.

Nahh there was MB Malik on the wall too!

 

[SalmanK]

Compare that with this ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpEUKjTo6BQ&feature=related

Anyone else think those poor guys making balls by hand are under-appreciated?

 

[SempreSami]

[utube]YMFHrOKCtA0[/utube]

Beautiful

 

[Cricketismylife]

Hand stitched balls last longer and are better - just cost more and that's why companies like Kooka have switched to machines and are pretending as if machine made is better - It simply aint!

v labour intensive...ball making.

 

[adill420]

While on the subject of cricket balls, I have always wondered about the debate of 2 piece ball vs 4 piece balls?

 

[Cricketismylife]

4 piece- stays in shape longer, is better, generally longer lasting(ball breakage wise) as well.

2 piece- always swings more, cheaper than 4 pc and thus used in practice nets etc. can lose shape sometimes - goes egg shaped

some people think 2 piece are bat breakers or 4 piece do that- nothing of the sort. A ball can be bad for the bat depending on the composition of the ball NOT the piecing (2 or 4) applied.

 

[JN1301]

4 piece- stays in shape longer, is better, generally longer lasting(ball breakage wise) as well.

2 piece- always swings more, cheaper than 4 pc and thus used in practice nets etc. can lose shape sometimes - goes egg shaped

some people think 2 piece are bat breakers or 4 piece do that- nothing of the sort. A ball can be bad for the bat depending on the composition of the ball NOT the piecing (2 or 4) applied.

all i know is that slazenger balls break bats. NEVER use balls made by slaz

 

[SempreSami]

Not sure about that, we used one in a match the other week and it was fine.

 

[Cricketismylife]

I have to agree with JN1301 on this one.

The slazenger balls (or Gray Nics ones) I have seen are rock hard and sound dodgy when they hit bats.

I used to keep a cheaper bat for nets- another for better times!

 

[Cover Drive]

Cricketismylife bro as far I knew aren't two piece balls harder and stiffer compare to four piece hence they are known as 'bat breaker'?

So going by that a two piece ball would be safe for bats?

I will also add SG balls to that list, have seen that ball damaging many bats lol.

 

[adill420]

There has to be more to it than this. Isn't it true that in test matches 2 piece balls are used?

 

[Cricketismylife]

There has to be more to it than this. Isn't it true that in test matches 2 piece balls are used?

nope- 4 piece balls in all domestic, county or international level leagues.

2 piece is cheaper to manufacture (half the stitching labour) and hence used for club trainings etc.

Even decent level club games use 4 piece.

all international games (ODI or T20) are using Kookaburra balls and soon all test balls will be kookas as well.

 

[Cover Drive]

nope- 4 piece balls in all domestic, county or international level leagues.

2 piece is cheaper to manufacture (half the stitching labour) and hence used for club trainings etc.

Even decent level club games use 4 piece.

all international games (ODI or T20) are using Kookaburra balls and soon all test balls will be kookas as well.

Aren't the test matches red ball Kookaburra already? (excluding UK where Dukes is used)

 

[Cricketismylife]

Cricketismylife bro as far I knew aren't two piece balls harder and stiffer compare to four piece hence they are known as 'bat breaker'?

So going by that a two piece ball would be safe for bats?

I will also add SG balls to that list, have seen that ball damaging many bats lol.

CD dost:
Again, it depends on the composition and the grade the balls are meant to be.

e.g. Kooka 2 piece balls (like kooka Practice or kooka Zenith or kooka reader) will not damage bats.

whereas even Slaz 4 piece might be bat damaging.

Cost gives a fairly good indicator of the ball.

Also, companies like Gray Nics and Slaz dont make their balls- they get them done for cheap from india or pak. Even for India and Pak standards they buy the cheapest middle range so one can imagine the quality of the ball.

Depends mostly on the core of the ball- if its hard goli inside - it will damage bats. leather makes a difference as well but more on the durability rather than the damage caused.



With SG as well- the lower grade balls are bat damaging rocks e.g.SG Seamer and bouncer are terrible balls- rock hard POS. whereas the higher grade balls are good enough for international level cricket.

In fact the SG test ball was the actual ball being used in tests in India. I used to have one ( was a hand me down from a senior player) and that ball didnt get destroyed even after 110-120 overs that we could ball in the nets!! Not sure what the quality is like these days but they will surely not be bat breakers.
pic of that ball below:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Y9e7xOPBL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Used to be 500-700 indian rupees which used to be a big deal when I used to play. Cheaper balls used to cost Rs 50-60.

Watch out for cheap fakes as well.

The real SG test that I had was soft leather even after it was worn out.

SG Seam was hand stitched (nice thick thread) and was real easy to grip as a spinner. No wonder Harbhajan singh was having problems once he came to Australia- in Australia they were using Kookaburra for tests and kookas have machine stitching which is not as easy to grip.

Now a days even kids in India/Pak have seen kooka balls! For the last generation it was a distant dream ....(even Ranji spinners struggled once they came on international stage)

 

[askmoi]

we use SG balls in our league. SG Test White for Div 1, SG Test for Div 2 and SG Tournament Special for all other divisions. i must say the balls are really good. they don't have a lot of lacquer. so you have to work hard to maintain the shine. but the ball retains its shape really well. and on another note, none of them are bat breakers. have not used lower quality SG balls yet.

i believe that there are a lot of fakes out there which can be bat breakers. these can be of any make from kook, gray nics, sg, bdm etc

 

[Cricketismylife]

Aren't the test matches red ball Kookaburra already? (excluding UK where Dukes is used)

used to be like this:

Tests in England- Dukes
Tests in India - SG TEST
Tests in Anywhere else - Kookaburra

Lately even in India kookaburra is being used even for Test games (Not sure if they have started already or doing that soon).

In fact lot of "imp people" want kookaburras to be used for every game in india. In a way it makes sense coz players have to use kookas eventually anyways. and now they have too muchmoney anyways so who cares. lol.

Kookaburra is nice ball to swing once new and also nice seam movement if you can hit the seam initially

But once its a few overs old the seam dies completely- so batting is dead easy - especially in the subcontinent.

On the other hand Dukes and SG have nice thick seam- thus sometimes even after a few overs there is still seam movement.

lately it has all been about using the new ball and then waiting/hoping for reverse swing - thats because the bowlers are adapting due to kooka balls everywhere.

In England partly due to the weather and partly due to the ball being used- there's always a bit happening.

They might start using Kookaburras in england Tests as well soon....

A bit sad coz All these variations (even cricket ball) make this lovely game even more interesting.

 

[Cricketismylife]

Also, the leather is very different on Dukes/Kooka/SG.

Dukes is tougher leather than kooka or SG and helps even more with the swing/movement.

because of tougher nature Dukes are being used in some Pakistan domestic tournaments as well.

SG starts getting the reverse swing the earliest amongst the three.

 

[Cover Drive]

CD dost:
Again, it depends on the composition and the grade the balls are meant to be.

e.g. Kooka 2 piece balls (like kooka Practice or kooka Zenith or kooka reader) will not damage bats.

whereas even Slaz 4 piece might be bat damaging.

Cost gives a fairly good indicator of the ball.

Also, companies like Gray Nics and Slaz dont make their balls- they get them done for cheap from india or pak. Even for India and Pak standards they buy the cheapest middle range so one can imagine the quality of the ball.

Depends mostly on the core of the ball- if its hard goli inside - it will damage bats. leather makes a difference as well but more on the durability rather than the damage caused.



With SG as well- the lower grade balls are bat damaging rocks e.g.SG Seamer and bouncer are terrible balls- rock hard POS. whereas the higher grade balls are good enough for international level cricket.

In fact the SG test ball was the actual ball being used in tests in India. I used to have one ( was a hand me down from a senior player) and that ball didnt get destroyed even after 110-120 overs that we could ball in the nets!! Not sure what the quality is like these days but they will surely not be bat breakers.
pic of that ball below:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Y9e7xOPBL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Used to be 500-700 indian rupees which used to be a big deal when I used to play. Cheaper balls used to cost Rs 50-60.

Watch out for cheap fakes as well.

The real SG test that I had was soft leather even after it was worn out.

SG Seam was hand stitched (nice thick thread) and was real easy to grip as a spinner. No wonder Harbhajan singh was having problems once he came to Australia- in Australia they were using Kookaburra for tests and kookas have machine stitching which is not as easy to grip.

Now a days even kids in India/Pak have seen kooka balls! For the last generation it was a distant dream ....(even Ranji spinners struggled once they came on international stage)

I am going to Pakistan and will try to buy few different balls (cheap and most expensive oneS) and then cut them into pieces and see what a good ball and a bad ball looks like from inside. It would be interesting to see that I would reckon.

used to be like this:

Tests in England- Dukes
Tests in India - SG TEST
Tests in Anywhere else - Kookaburra

Lately even in India kookaburra is being used even for Test games.

Then in a few tests the Kookas didnt last as long and they were considering whether to go back to SG. But didnt.

In fact lot of "imp people" want kookaburras to be used for every game in india. In a way it makes sense coz players have to use kookas eventually anyways. and now they have too muchmoney anyways so who cares. lol.

Kookaburra is nice ball to swing once new and also nice seam movement if you can hit the seam initially

But once its a few overs old the seam dies completely- so batting is dead easy - especially in the subcontinent.

On the other hand Dukes and SG have nice thick seam- thus sometimes even after a few overs there is still seam movement.

lately it has all been about using the new ball and then waiting/hoping for reverse swing - thats because the bowlers are adapting due to kooka balls everywhere.

In England partly due to the weather and partly due to the ball being used- there's always a bit happening.

They might start using Kookaburras in england Tests as well soon....

A bit sad coz All these variations (even cricket ball) make this lovely game even more interesting.

Ah man you're a star seriously! thanks for writing all this I appreciate it!

You have pretty much summed up everything, don't have any question(s)

Personally I would say Dukes should be used everywhere so bowlers get an advantage because if you look in subcontinent it is all batsman game, bowler can't do anything when a ball gets old so assuming Dukes last longer ("newness") so that should help the bowlers too!

I have a Dukes ball not sure which one it is but I must say it is brilliant!

HAve played with Kookaburra balls and after aounrd 28ish overs they get soft and seam is widen and cracks are visibly.

 

[Cover Drive]

Also, the leather is very different on Dukes/Kooka/SG.

Dukes is tougher leather than kooka or SG and helps even more with the swing/movement.

because of tougher nature Dukes are being used in some Pakistan domestic tournaments as well.

SG starts getting the reverse swing the earliest amongst the three.

REally ?! Dukes are used in Pakistan's domestic tournament?! I thought it was only Grays balls used in Pakistani domestic circuit.

 

[askmoi]

used to be like this:

Tests in England- Dukes
Tests in India - SG TEST
Tests in Anywhere else - Kookaburra

Lately even in India kookaburra is being used even for Test games (Not sure if they have started already or doing that soon).

it is still the same.

 

[Cricketismylife]

REally ?! Dukes are used in Pakistan's domestic tournament?! I thought it was only Grays balls used in Pakistani domestic circuit.

yeah, one of those surprising things. Not all of them but some of the domestics are using those - or at least were using those till late last year. Dont know whats happening with Pak cricket this year!

One thing that favours kooka the most is that being such a big company, their quality control is pretty good.

Balls like SG are harder to QC coz you can imagine the nightmare of controlling the quality of leather in the subcontinent.

Think it like this :Quite possible that the cow/buffalo down the street will end up becoming the cricket ball that Zaheer (or any other Phaast bowler! lol) opens his bowling with!!

SG favours spinners a lot as well - BIG thick seam gets easily stuck in the fingers for extra spin.

I am pretty sure that Readers ball was being used for some international games as well- but now they might be a part of Kooka as well. Readers (Kooka firm) are still the biggest in indoor though....

 

[Cover Drive]

yeah, one of those surprising things. Not all of them but some of the domestics are using those - or at least were using those.

One thing that favours kooka the most is that being such a big company, their quality control is pretty good.

Balls like SG are harder to QC coz you can imagine the nightmare of controlling the quality of leather in the subcontinent.

Think it like this :Quite possible that the cow/buffalo down the street will end up becoming the cricket ball that Zaheer (or any other Phaast bowler! lol) opens his bowling with!!

SG favours spinners a lot as well - BIG thick seam gets easily stuck in the fingers for extra spin.

I am pretty sure that Readers ball was being used for some international games as well- but now they might be a part of Kooka as well. Readers (Kooka firm) are still the biggest in indoor though....

Do you exactly know which domestic tournaments in Pakistan use/used Dukes balls?

True, I would say samething is with Dukes. I heard that all rejected test level Dukes balls go into County circuit.

It is quite obvious to control the quality in Asia and we all know why is that.

My old club got these Readers ball and I believe they were low end (actually I'm sure) and they were truly rubbish balls. They didn't look like a good ball after few delieveries.

 

[Cricketismylife]

remember reading about it a while back - They were saying Aamer and Asif felt right at home using Duke coz they have used the same in pak

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2010/07/26/cricket-pakistan-england-ball-idUKLDE66P1VW20100726

"The English pitches remain soft and have moisture because of the weather and the Duke ball has a more prominent seam and hard leather which makes it easier for our bowlers to swing and seam the ball around," former fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz said.

Nawaz said the Pakistani bowlers were more comfortable using the Duke ball because similar brands were used in domestic cricket.

 

[Cricketismylife]

Personally I would say Dukes should be used everywhere so bowlers get an advantage because if you look in subcontinent it is all batsman game, bowler can't do anything when a ball gets old so assuming Dukes last longer ("newness") so that should help the bowlers too!

Yeah, Dukes would make for more competitive cricket.

You know what would be even better- in Pak they should use Pak made cricket ball!

A lot of companies like CA or Malik would kill for something like that.
And Pak make balls for some of the biggest brands- surely some sort of control can be put.

Even Kookas arent 100% trouble proof!

 

[Cricketismylife]

From another article:

Cricket experts have put the success of the Pakistani pace bowlers in England to the fact that they also use the Duke and Gray's cricket balls in domestic cricket and are more comfortable bowling with it than the Kookaburra ball normally used in many countries.

 

[Cover Drive]

remember reading about it a while back - They were saying Aamer and Asif felt right at home using Duke coz they have used the same in pak

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2010/07/26/cricket-pakistan-england-ball-idUKLDE66P1VW20100726

"The English pitches remain soft and have moisture because of the weather and the Duke ball has a more prominent seam and hard leather which makes it easier for our bowlers to swing and seam the ball around," former fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz said.

Nawaz said the Pakistani bowlers were more comfortable using the Duke ball because similar brands were used in domestic cricket.

Ahh okay, I know top of the range Dukes balls are made in England but maybe the second best ones are made in Pakistan. A lot of companies get balls made from Pakistan too!

Yeah, Dukes would make for more competitive cricket.

You know what would be even better- in Pak they should use Pak made cricket ball!

A lot of companies like CA or Malik would kill for something like that.
And Pak make balls for some of the biggest brands- surely some sort of control can be put.

Even Kookas arent 100% trouble proof!

From another article:

Cricket experts have put the success of the Pakistani pace bowlers in England to the fact that they also use the Duke and Gray's cricket balls in domestic cricket and are more comfortable bowling with it than the Kookaburra ball normally used in many countries.

These Gray's balls are very very good in Pakistan. Unfortunately they are soo strict that they are only available for imports, localist can't have access to those good top end Gray's balls.

 

[LordJames]

Why doesn't Pakistan use SG in UAE because it has a fatter seam and easier to grip for Spinners?

Indian Spinners have an advantage in Indian conditions due to the ball being used.