Cricket ball

Anyone without an experience might not realize how hard a cricket ball is, but there are players as well who do not seem to realize that it is harder to pick out the right cricket ball. Hard and bouncy especially when it is new and when it matches the required specifications, a wrong selection of the cricket ball may turn the game just the opposite of where it was destined.

The cricket ball is a hard one built from cork, latex rubber and string that stays covered with leather. The size and the hardness equal more or less a baseball, but the leather is red, thicker and the two hemispheres are sewed to make the seam run like the equator along the ball’s circumference. The white stitch also remains raised slightly and is often undetectable from a distance in the white balls that are used currently. This is said to increase visibility in games played under artificial lighting, though many players claim the white cricket balls capable of more swings and stings than the traditional red ones that test matches are played with. A part of that is considered true because of the harder wearing coating; it is to stop the scuffs and blemishes from showing up too early. But then, cork, latex rubber, leather and string are not the only material to make the cricket ball, as the diamond and gold cricket ball (made in Sri Lanka) made for celebrating the start of the cricket season in Australia has proved. The ball is also a mascot for the Fior Drissage jewellery store in Melbourne and has been nominated for the Guinness Book of Records. With 2704 diamonds (53.83 carats total) and 18 carat of gold (125 grams) stitched in, it definitely deserves that much.

A cricket ball should typically weigh between 156 to 163 grams (5.5 and 5.75 ounces) and should measure between 22.4 to 22.9cm in diameter; the specifications were set way back in 1809 for men’s cricket. However, women’s cricket makes use of balls weighing between 140g and 151g with the circumference ranging from 21.0cm to 22.5cm and for junior cricket, it is 133g to 144g in weight and 20.5cm to 22.0cm in circumference. As per the rules, all cricket balls should be approved by the umpires and the captains of each of the teams prior to the match and should be kept in the possession of the umpires before the toss occurs.

Lawrence