Batty criticises trial of Kookaburra balls in Championship as ‘foolish’ and ‘illogical’

The experiment, which noticed the Kookaburra ball used as an alternative of the usual Dukes over the past two rounds of county fixtures, was really helpful by Andrew Strauss’ High Performance Review, commissioned within the aftermath of England’s 4-0 Ashes defeat to Australia in 2021-22.

The evaluate mentioned that the trial would give the ECB “a firmer understanding” of the distinction between the 2 balls, suggesting that utilizing the Kookaburra as an alternative of the Dukes may drive “the development of a wider range of skills” amongst English seamers and improve the function of spinners.

But Batty described the trial as “very silly” and “a kneejerk reaction” to England’s defeat in Australia. “It’s like saying next week, we’ve got to play with 10 men,” he advised ESPNcricinfo. “That seems silly to me. We don’t change the shape of the ball in football halfway through; we don’t mess up what is going on.”

Speaking after his Surrey aspect drew with Nottinghamshire at The Oval, Batty mentioned that the timing of the trial was “illogical”, citing the potential for gamers being known as up for England and utilizing a distinct ball to the one they’d been utilizing in home cricket.

“If anybody were to be called up from county cricket, bowling with a Kookaburra ball, it makes no sense that they’re having to change to a Dukes ball,” he mentioned. “There are different characteristics to the two balls. I like them both equally. I’m certainly not criticising the fact that we’re using it but the timing of it is questionable.”

Moores added: “I can see exactly why the ECB want to test it out and have a look at it and how it’s reacted… generally, the Dukes ball is a good ball but over the last couple of seasons, it’s tended to have to be changed a bit too much for me and that’s something we want to try and get away from because as a ball gets older and deteriorates, that’s when spinners come into the game.

“I feel the [Kookaburra] ball has performed fairly properly on the pitches we have performed on. We performed at Taunton and we performed right here. Both pitches had an affordable masking of grass which I feel helped motion and stored carry within the ball. The ball did not go out of form, which I feel is an efficient factor as a result of it brings spinners into the sport.”

But Batty insisted that he was unclear why the trial had been introduced, and that if the intention was to bring spinners into the game, it hadn’t worked. “I wasn’t aware of these conferences,” he said. “Nobody has requested – from what I perceive – anyone that’s ready at counties to evolve and create England gamers [about it]. That appears unusual.

“Does it bring spinners into it? I don’t think that it looks like it has done across the counties. There’s a few counties who have made pitches very dry to try and bring spin into it because they feel like the ball won’t move laterally, which is absolutely fine and I totally get that. That’s a positive, both for batters and spinners.”

Batty cited the lower within the variety of factors out there for a draw – from eight to 5, in comparison with 16 for a win – as proof that English cricket needs a “quick fix” on the subject of creating spinners, reasonably than clear long-term considering. “The points system has negated spinners this year,” he mentioned.

“Let’s say it as it is: everybody is playing for wins and losses now. A draw means less than it did last year. We have changed as current champions how we think about the game because of the points system. Everybody needs a quick fix because you want to win; unfortunately, you don’t get a quick fix with spin.”