Dukes Balls For All In 2012

Dukes Balls For All In 2012

Callum Thorp inspects the Dukes ball that will be used in both Divisions of the County Championship in 2012.

©Action Images

The ECB has decided to take heed of the advice from its own cricket committee and abandon its experiment with the controversial Tiflex ball.

The ball has been used in Division Two of the LV= County Championship since 2009 with mutterings about the excessive swing and seam that it offers beginning almost immediately. Those mutterings became a full scale tirade this season following the banning of the heavy roller, which worsened the situation to such an extent that Ravi Bopara vented his frustration on Twitter saying, "No heavy rollers  and tiflex balls is a recipe for low scores. C*** cricket!"

On top of this, a recent survey by the Professional Cricketers Association found that the majority of players were dissatisfied with the current situation, thus forcing the ECB’s hand and their statement that confirmed their U-Turn.

"It was felt that there was a need for consistency with the type of balls being used and that sides coming up from the second division should not have to get used to a different type of ball," said an ECB spokesman.

Like all rule changes, this one started with the best of intentions, namely to keep Dukes, the manufacturer of balls in Division One, on their toes by providing competition, but ultimately Tiflex were just not good enough at providing that competition so Dukes’ monopoly of the red ball market in England continues.

Counties will, however, be permitted to use Tiflex balls in Second Eleven matches, while white Kookaburra balls will continue to be used in the Friends Life t20 and Clydesdale Bank 40.

© Cricket World 2011