Hit for six
There are millions of people around the world who appreciate the perfection in a cricket ball. What happens to a ball during a game can be critical to over a billion people worldwide, from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in the southern hemisphere to Pakistan, India, and England in the northern hemisphere, as well as among the Caribbean nations. Players and fans are found in the Netherlands and Ireland, as well as unlikely places like Israel, the tiny island of Corfu and Afghanistan.
While the Baseball World Series is only played between teams, well, in the US and one in Canada, the World Cricket Cup has been competed for by 20 nations. In fact, some 100 countries are affiliated to the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Survival
The rules of the game can be confusing to the uninitiated, but suffice to say the ball needs to survive for at least the 480 times that it is bowled, at speeds up to about 100mph (160kmh) to a batsman some 22 yards (20+m) away, before it is considered that it has suffered enough after having been hit along the ground, in the air, or even out of the ground or stadium for distances up to some 160 yards (150m). If a batsman hits the ball over the boundary without it touching the ground, he scores six runs — which is where the expression ‘hit for six’ originates. No bowler likes being hit for six.
As we have indicated, the rules of the game can sound odd but the principles are simple: the team that scores the most runs wins the games. (We will ignore the fact that international matches can last five days and end in a draw!) The weight and size of the bat, traditionally made from willow wood, can vary. The specifications for the ball, however, are strictly regulated.
What makes the perfect cricket ball
The cricket balls used for top matches are covered in leather, but not just any leather and it can take up to eight months to produce each one. There are very few companies that are able to manufacture the balls to the standards set by the ICC. One of the oldest is Dukes. Founded in 1760, with possible history dating back a further 250 years, the production was to be founded next door to the Duke family home in Penhurst, Kent, where six saddlers were employed to stitch the leather balls. Over time and with various mergers, by 1986, the Dukes name continued but today the balls are now made by The British Cricketball Company, under the directorship of Dilip Jajodia, previous sales director for Dukes.
Very little is known about the tannage of the original leather, but a patent filed in 1897 by Dukes makes reference to chrome tanned leather for covers. A production very much in its infancy (chrome tanning originated in the early 1800s) it was probably used to replace the abundant availability of thick and heavy vegetable tanned leather used by local cobblers and saddle makers. This chrome tanned leather was likely to be hard and thin and perfect for cricket balls. That said, with historical reference to “white” leathers being used as far back as the 1850s, and a history dating back even further, it wasn’t until 1981 that the British Standards Specification for Test and County cricket balls stipulated that aluminium (alum) tanned leather be used. It also specifies that the ball should weigh between 5.5 and 5.75 ounces (155.9g and 163g) and have a circumference of 22.4 to 22.9 cm. Further aspects to the ball, although not a legal stipulation, is that better quality balls have 80 stitches for the circumference of one seam; lower quality balls have around 50 due to the thicker thread used.
Making the grade
Selected from pale coloured heavy cattle hides, with dark haired varieties being rejected as the pigmentation adversely affects the aesthetics of the finished ball, the hides are trimmed into butts – this being the prime part of the hide – without shoulders or bellies, and tannage is carried out using aluminium salts to create a pure white leather. In this uncoloured state, some productions could continue to create a white ball (or many of the other fashionable colours) with a pigmented surface but for the classic red ball, the leather is cut down the spine to form two “bends” and dyed to a pale but vibrant red colour (think old British telephone box) and dried out. In this dried state it is ready for the ball manufacturer.
With the fibre structure nearest the spine being the most consistent, the bends are cut into six-inch strips, the one nearest the spine being classified for best balls and with subsequent grading out towards the belly edge for the remaining strips – with a bend being roughly 26 inches wide (and 48 inches long), approximately 4 strips would be obtained per bend.
The leather strips are then moistened and manually manipulated in a staking type operation to soften the fibres, taking out as much natural stretch as possible and finally re-dried under tension, then split to a level thickness. Depending on the ball to be made, this would be between 2.5 and 3.5mm. With each ball made from four quarters, covering a twine wrapped cork filler, there are actually two seams on a ball, one clearly visible with the classic six rows of waxed thread visible around the circumference – used expertly by the bowlers to good effect to aid spin and unpredictable bounce.
The other seam is internal and invisible, running perpendicular to the visible one. For the English ball, all this must be hand stitched, a labour-intensive process that takes expertise and time to get right, something that between 1986 and 2005 was carried out at Dukes premises in Walthamstow, London. The majority of the operation is now conducted in Pakistan with only the final stages of the operation taking place in the UK.
Once the ball is “closed”, the seam is hammered flat and then the whole ball is immersed in wax – historically this was buck (deer) fat, but latterly this has been replaced with a synthetic alternative. The final operations see the ball pressed to shape, and the familiar gold foil “branding” applied – identifying the manufacturer, ball weight and club/county level for which it can be used.
One of the reasons for the wax dipping is to add some water resistance to the leather. Aluminium tanned leathers are notoriously hygroscopic – they absorb water readily. Being full aniline and very lightly finished, the ball, once it has been played through the outfield a few times, will start to lose the protection of the outer finish and whilst the wicket will be desert dry, the somewhat lush grass of the outfield may be moist. Without the added water repellence from the fat, the leather would soon start to absorb excess water and subsequently soften and potentially go out of shape.
Another property this adds is the ability to polish and shine the ball. Whether this was ever intentional is unknown but, by polishing one side of the ball, leaving the other rough, allows the ball to move in the air – in the direction the smooth side is pointing as this side will effectively move more quickly through the air; this is referred to as the swing and depending on how the bowler holds the ball can be an out swinger or an inswinger.
With little changed in the ball design or technology over the last 100 years, it is a wonder, in the modern game with bats designed for optimum performance and the batters trained as athletes, just how the ball survives, but judging by the recent international test matches, the sound of leather on willow will survive many more innings.
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