COLUMN: 'Red ball game being thrown into confusion'

Yahoo

2 days ago

I along with so many other Somerset County Cricket members, are still trying to fathom out why test match cricket and county championship cricket and our red ball games are once again being thrown into confusion, following a brilliant start to the season at test match and county championship levels writes Merv Colenutt.
The county championship has certainly brought some exciting and mixed results in the opening third of the season played with the Dukes ball, but as we approach mid season and a change to the Kookaburra ball, results and excitement appear to have gone out of the window with the counties; The batsmen are gaining the upper hand and for those struggling for form, that change has come at the right time.
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The Dukes ball used at the start of the season and at the finale in September, is hand stitched and has a rather prominent seam, perfect for swing bowlers and movement off a pitch which is generally green at the start of a season.
The Kookaburra ball is machine stitched with a flatter seam, so why oh why do the ECB want to suddenly favour batsmen mid way through a season on flatter pitches, where results are harder to come by.
For some of those batsmen however, the Kookaburra, probably did come at the right time, having always been a great admirer of Tom Abell as a leading batsman, runs could not have come at a better time for the former captain, but with not too much seam movement and swing, Abell i felt looked almost back to his best against Nottinghamshire at the weekend with a classy half century.
Once again I was impressed by the maturity of Archie Vaughan at the crease, his touch, timing and balance at the crease without being rushed was exemplary and although he only made 37, Vaughan Is without doubt a huge talent for the future.
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There is talk as always about reducing the amount of county championship fixtures and that will happen of course, but you cannot disregard the red ball game, Somerset had a huge crowd at Taunton on Sunday and Surrey pulled in their biggest ever first day crowd of the season at the Oval on the opening day of the season.
England's magnificent victory over India in a five-day thriller in the middle of June proves that all the money being put into the game, the red ball game for the purist is still the best.