Custom Bats Cricket Forum
Equipment => Other Gear => Topic started by: Cricketfan99 on March 04, 2016, 04:30:42 AM
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im a bit confused as to which cricket balls to buy to use for my cricket bats. (just for net practice, i want the best)
1a) sg test ball from online stockist for 12 for £135 + 13 pp = 148 for 12 = £12.33 each for test match ball (guaranteed) for 80+ overs.
1b) sf test ball again from online stockist for same price as sg £135 for 12 at £12.33 each again for 80+ overs.
1c) not buying the readers test ball at £64.96 from what ever shop rrp £100
1d) not buying the dukes test and county ball either for £70 from morrant. rrp £90
2) readers Special County Imperial Crown £42.95 each from cricket direct. (prob not buying this either)
3) dukes international cricket ball £120 for 6 at lorimers sport rrp £40 each. (but if you buy 6 = £120, £20 each), maybe buy the one to test the quality out... 1 at £27 inc pp)
iv put the above in rank order as far as i understand so far. maybe I'm wrong. all the 1 a/b/c/d are of equal quality as they are all test match quality balls. all except sf used in test matches but sf said to be made same standard as the sg ball I'm advised.
I'm based in manchester and here in the lancashire leagues we use readers cricket balls, namely the sovereign special retailing at rrp ~ £35, but mostly its easy to find them online for e.g. ~£25-27. so it will be a jump up or two at least to the balls mentioned above.
also from my reading I understand that england, pakistan and west indies use the dukes test ball for their test and first class / county games.
india use the sg test balls
rest of countries use the kookaburra ball. i.e australia / new zealand / sa / sl / bangla / etc...
readers use to be used in england e.g. 10 + years ago, but since kookaburra bought readers (readers is now owned by them) readers is no longer used in test matches, as other wise kook would have a monopoly.
any wise thoughts would be very much appreciated.
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Unfortunately there is no international cricket in Pakistan but domestic T20 has Kookaburra Turf while first class has Grays ball.
I have noticed a difference in SG Test red and white one. Both are harder than Kookaburra Turf, however, I am still amused how SG Test is used for Indian test/first class games. It seems like a harder ball, thinner leather, not very prominent seam and gets very soft after use. SG Test flies off the bat, making it so pingy!
England and West Indies use Dukes while India uses SG Test and rest use Kookaburra Turf.
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The Tiflex balls are very high quality in my opinion, definitely the best ball I've ever used! Not sure what grade it was again, but I think it was the 2nd best one. I think the Tiflex Magna is a decent ball too, had some pink ones and no issues with them other than folk knicking them!
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Just received a bulk buy from Nathan at tiflex. Can't say more than they look the part.. And I've tried the sg from OLS, and didn't grow fond of them.
Tiflex has 3 grades, t20 (nets ball) 50 overs and the test version.
The magna, the Windsor and the test - which by Nathan's call should be able to challenge the mighty kookaburra turf. They even have a subcontinent style coming later this spring. I can give you Nathan's mail if you like.
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I believe I read that kookaburra sits on 85% of tests. And all odi / t-20?
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Just received a bulk buy from Nathan at tiflex. Can't say more than they look the part.. And I've tried the sg from OLS, and didn't grow fond of them.
Tiflex has 3 grades, t20 (nets ball) 50 overs and the test version.
The magna, the Windsor and the test - which by Nathan's call should be able to challenge the mighty kookaburra turf. They even have a subcontinent style coming later this spring. I can give you Nathan's mail if you like.
Sorry to hijack the thread guys, but would you be willing to send me Nathan's email as well? Thanks...
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Me and a mate net down at choice willow in redbourne (outside hemel hempsted) and they have a test ball down there and got to sat bet ball we have used- ive used all the Cherwell league balls but we bought a box of these choice cricket balls for sunday league and they last a very long time and don't ware down as quick as other balls.
there still swinging for me after 35 overs
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What I need from a ball- list:
1: Good on the bat
2: holds its shape
3: retains ability to Polish up and thereby swing
4: water resistance
5: price
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What I need from a ball- list:
1: Good on the bat
2: holds its shape
3: retains ability to Polish up and thereby swing
4: water resistance
5: price
have to agree there mate
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Anyone who disagrees to the first point, should get banned from this forum!
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Admittedly limited experience of the SG/SF balls but I still think Dukes are the finest cricket balls you can buy. We used a trial ball (brand escapes me but will have had to be grade a standard) for a few games and it really made you appreciate just how good the Dukes are. Very rarely lose shape, proud hard wearing seam, can usually recover them from a Tarmac/concrete encounter and no undue damage to bats.
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Admittedly limited experience of the SG/SF balls but I still think Dukes are the finest cricket balls you can buy. We used a trial ball (brand escapes me but will have had to be grade a standard) for a few games and it really made you appreciate just how good the Dukes are. Very rarely lose shape, proud hard wearing seam, can usually recover them from a Tarmac/concrete encounter and no undue damage to bats.
Yeahs dukes are the top brand in the uk and should be used every club
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speak to the guys at Vitas Cricket.... they are trialling a Focus Cricket ball which has been exceptionally well received here in Australia.
Soft feel ball with a lovely seam shape and great durability.
These balls have been exceptionally well received by many clubs as a cost effective quality alternative training ball to the kookaburra. We are currently trialling them with the WACA as an option to the Kookaburra ball.
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We use Tilfex balls in our league and they are terrible. They don't keep their shape (sometimes after 10 overs) and the leather seems to scuff really easily. The worst thing of all about them is they are bat breakers, such hard cricket balls.
The only other ball that I've used is Dukes, high quality cricket ball. We used to use to have one ball for whole game, scuffs the lot and would still probably last another 90 overs and be a really decent spare or net ball.
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We use Tilfex balls in our league and they are terrible. They don't keep their shape (sometimes after 10 overs) and the leather seems to scuff really easily. The worst thing of all about them is they are bat breakers, such hard cricket balls.
The only other ball that I've used is Dukes, high quality cricket ball. We used to use to have one ball for whole game, scuffs the lot and would still probably last another 90 overs and be a really decent spare or net ball.
Which tiflex did you use?
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We use Tilfex balls in our league and they are terrible. They don't keep their shape (sometimes after 10 overs) and the leather seems to scuff really easily. The worst thing of all about them is they are bat breakers, such hard cricket balls.
The only other ball that I've used is Dukes, high quality cricket ball. We used to use to have one ball for whole game, scuffs the lot and would still probably last another 90 overs and be a really decent spare or net ball.
Yeahs dukes are the top brand in the uk and should be used every club
The key thing to consider before making sweeping statements such as the above, is that all the reputable manufacturers make very good balls, they also all make mid range and budget balls. To simply describe dukes as brilliant or tiflex as rubbish is a little short sighted. What model from the range was it? Or perhaps a more relevant question, what model did the league/manufacturer conspire to tell you it was? It's rife in cricket I'm afraid, a ball gets approved by a league, everyone likes it, the price season after season goes up, and after a while they simply issue a lesser ball hoping/assuming no-one notices and pocket the extra cash. Often it's distributed amongst the decision makers via brown envelopes and everyone in charge is happy with the status quo even if the clubs are screaming blue murder about poor cricket due to poor balls. I can't tell you the number of times we've unashamedly been asked for a Bung when discussing providing balls to a competition
Branding also has a huge impact. A long time ago now we took 3 local bowlers and batsmen all playing top level cricket and had them net together for a couple of hours, constantly asking for feedback on the various balls we gave them. The plain unbranded ball fared so so, the traditional cricket ball manufacturer branded ball fared the best and the Asian branded ball fared the worst, so poor they actually questioned why we had even asked them to test it. All balls were the same ball made by the same manufacturer.
Me personally, we use the top tiflex ball in our Saturday league and it's the best ball I've ever played with, unsurprisingly I've seen a lot of balls ( @FattusCattus this ones for you mate ) so I'm fairly well informed on the subject. Going back to what I mentioned earlier; on Sunday's we use a Readers ball and it is pants. It used to be decent but has clearly been replaced by a lower model in the range. Doesn't shine, doesn't swing, loses shape, nothing about the ball helps batters or bowlers
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Nathan just sent me a batch of their entire line. Warning me that the low grade are low grades.. I will be netting them through april/may, and I'll do a report. Tiflex seem to have a agenda, trying to grab hold on more leagues. And I am willing to help as the statement that vitas said about brown envelopes, or prices skyrocketing are very obvious here. We use kookaburra turf, white, and they go up £10 every year.. If tiflex new competitor could do as good, we have a competition, ergo, better prices!
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In the Northants league we use dukes and they are very durable and look like that have only been used for 10 overs after 50
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I completely agree the comments regarding the readers cricket balls. We use the readers sovereign ball and it does not swing feels hard. It will seem around for 10 overs then the seem goes soft and the ball loses its shape and does very little.
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Gray Nicholls Warrior, aren't worth the money, Nor are Newbery! Best ball ive used that stays in shape for a reasonable amount of time is Kestral at £15 each but then again doesnt always swing. But that could be down the weather and other conditions!
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We use Oxbridge owned by Tiflex.
Tiflex and the brands that they own might make very good balls, it just has yet to filter down into our league unfortunately and I haven't had the pleasure of seeing such. We get all sorts from very dark red balls that are hard to see for the batter and fielders, to balls that the leather scuffs after the first over and misshape.
I've used Duke and found them to be a decent, if not the best cricket ball that we've played with in league cricket. Durable and of a good quality.
These are the only two balls that we have had supplied for our Saturday league cricket, so that is the recommendation that I can give. I could go on but I won't.
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Our league balls are unkown Indian import printed with our league sponsors logo.
They are awful but in the opposite way, I.e they are sos for they rarely last a game without being egged flattened or the seem tearing away.
If you bowl one Yorker in the net with them they are unusable.
So for winter nest I bought some dukes from ijc, they wasn't cheap, about 25 each or maybe more, but good balls, swung, and very durable.
But I finally sued my last one. And rather than replace with the same I went eslewhere.
New balls, are titled from jake @Vitas Cricket
I think they was around 12.50 and so far I am very impressed, looks and feel are spot on. Feel a high quality ball.
Done one net session, swings, and is in very very stable condition still. In fact the non attended side of a dukes was a lot worse after one net than the tifle.
I've had readers and kooks in the past. And neither impressed me. But I have a set of pink kooks to use this summer in our outdoor net for when it starts to get dark. Will see how they go.
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People seem to have very different experiences. I'm pretty sure our league balls are Readers. We play 95 over games and they seem to hold up pretty well. I often bowl in the mid to late overs and they are still swinging nicely - although they do scuff up a lot on really dry days.
Mind you, I could swing a jammy donut (if i hadn't eaten it already!)
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With regards to what balls we use - to the latter part of last season we started using the Choice willow test balls - priced at £7.50 each you cannot go wrong - we used them in a 40/40 on a sunday and I bowled the last over as open but when I came up to grab the ball of the umpire it was still I near pristine condition and was still seaming and swinging - kept its shape and was a big hit in the club - Richard at choice willow gives a good discount on the joblot of balls.
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Have used Tiflex outdoors and in there yellow Australian Pug for indoor cricket. When we had a ball go wrong etc Tiflex always send out a replacements, they are a great company to work with and Nathan is a top bloke. I have to also say I have used GM medium to top end balls and both were extremely good.
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Depends a lot on the actual ball model more than the company - I've played with Readers that were brilliant and swung for pretty much the whole 50 overs, I've also played with Readers that went to bits straight away!
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We use readers county crown they about 14 pounds they hold up very well and do swing around and stay in a nice shape and hard still on a Sunday we use lords balls and they are some of the worst I come across to be honest ok for nets but not up to match use
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We use readers county crown they about 14 pounds they hold up very well and do swing around and stay in a nice shape and hard still on a Sunday we use lords balls and they are some of the worst I come across to be honest ok for nets but not up to match use
That's why you were so keen to give that one to me then! ;)
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That's why you were so keen to give that one to me then! ;)
That one was one of the first lords ball which was not to bad but the batch from last year was terrible mate they was so hard and made very horrible sound when hit we have been netting with the lords balls from two seasons ago and still holding up ok
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The Tiflex balls are very high quality in my opinion, definitely the best ball I've ever used! Not sure what grade it was again, but I think it was the 2nd best one. I think the Tiflex Magna is a decent ball too, had some pink ones and no issues with them other than folk knicking them!
hi thanks for the reply. iv seen the tiflex international and first class ball, looks great, at £60.00 a ball, not sure ill got for this esp if its not used by any modern international team. thank! i might be tempted to buy one.
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Unfortunately there is no international cricket in Pakistan but domestic T20 has Kookaburra Turf while first class has Grays ball.
I have noticed a difference in SG Test red and white one. Both are harder than Kookaburra Turf, however, I am still amused how SG Test is used for Indian test/first class games. It seems like a harder ball, thinner leather, not very prominent seam and gets very soft after use. SG Test flies off the bat, making it so pingy!
England and West Indies use Dukes while India uses SG Test and rest use Kookaburra Turf.
hi thanks for the reply. i might just buy 6 of sg test balls, at £12.33 each for a test ball i cant go wrong. the sf is the same or similar standard, however not an official test ball, and from the pics it looks a touch lighter. so i might get 6 of these as well. it should play the same but just has a lighter look.
if i can get my hands on a kookaburra test ball might get a few of these as well. why not
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Got a Kook turf in white (as its used in LA and ODI in the UK) and a Dukes Special County (the test/ fc balls).
Both very good optkons, the sound they make even when tapping bats is great!
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The key thing to consider before making sweeping statements such as the above, is that all the reputable manufacturers make very good balls, they also all make mid range and budget balls. To simply describe dukes as brilliant or tiflex as rubbish is a little short sighted. What model from the range was it? Or perhaps a more relevant question, what model did the league/manufacturer conspire to tell you it was? It's rife in cricket I'm afraid, a ball gets approved by a league, everyone likes it, the price season after season goes up, and after a while they simply issue a lesser ball hoping/assuming no-one notices and pocket the extra cash. Often it's distributed amongst the decision makers via brown envelopes and everyone in charge is happy with the status quo even if the clubs are screaming blue murder about poor cricket due to poor balls. I can't tell you the number of times we've unashamedly been asked for a Bung when discussing providing balls to a competition
Branding also has a huge impact. A long time ago now we took 3 local bowlers and batsmen all playing top level cricket and had them net together for a couple of hours, constantly asking for feedback on the various balls we gave them. The plain unbranded ball fared so so, the traditional cricket ball manufacturer branded ball fared the best and the Asian branded ball fared the worst, so poor they actually questioned why we had even asked them to test it. All balls were the same ball made by the same manufacturer.
Me personally, we use the top tiflex ball in our Saturday league and it's the best ball I've ever played with, unsurprisingly I've seen a lot of balls ( @FattusCattus this ones for you mate ) so I'm fairly well informed on the subject. Going back to what I mentioned earlier; on Sunday's we use a Readers ball and it is pants. It used to be decent but has clearly been replaced by a lower model in the range. Doesn't shine, doesn't swing, loses shape, nothing about the ball helps batters or bowlers
Hi thanks for the detailed reply. interesting points!
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hi thanks for the reply. i might just buy 6 of sg test balls, at £12.33 each for a test ball i cant go wrong. the sf is the same or similar standard, however not an official test ball, and from the pics it looks a touch lighter. so i might get 6 of these as well. it should play the same but just has a lighter look.
if i can get my hands on a kookaburra test ball might get a few of these as well. why not
If it's £12 it's not going to be a test match ball
We can supply the kookaburra turf (test match) ball, but it isn't cheap!
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In the Northants league we use dukes and they are very durable and look like that have only been used for 10 overs after 50
Hi thanks for the reply; can you confirm which model of the dukes is it, as they have about 20
the test one has rrp £90 and sells for £70 from morrant. its probably not this one.
the next level below is the dukes international ball selling as said £20 a ball
then I think morrant do another ball called the dukes royal county a. rrp £40 selling for £22.99 . when i called morrant they said this was better ball then the readers soverign special rrp £35 but selling for £25. i asked them why does it have a higher rrp and lower selling price. they said they get a better deal from dukes so can pass on the savings to the customer.
also lorimers do the dukes crown prince selling for £22. they told me its the same ball as the dukes international. i asked them how do they know, they said dukes can make balls for some retailers and put different branding on (exactly) the same ball, this helps the retail shop sell the ball for cheaper and get the name of the shop out and also dukes balls are being sold in the process. but dukes don't tell the public this, as it will effect the sales of the ball they also sell on their website. e.g. if customers knew they could get the same ball cheaper then they won't buy the original branded ball, and it could effect sales. this caused me confusion so iv ordered one dukes international ball from lorimer and lets see how it turns out.
dukes also said that people up north prefer darker balls and down south prefer lighter balls. hence i can see why they will have different shades of the same (interior) built ball. hence difference names for the same ball but with different darkness red. this will mean many more balls but essentially some of them are the same with just minor differences such as colour...
they (dukes) also said their ball the dukes international, and a few more were better then the readers sovereign special (rss) as thats what their customers tell them. this was a week or two ago so i cant remember the exact words. but basically they had many balls which were better then the rss and at a better price also.
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If it's £12 it's not going to be a test match ball
We can supply the kookaburra turf (test match) ball, but it isn't cheap!
the price for the sg ball is on the website of online stockist and they say its test match standard. £135 for 12. + 13pp. i guess if i pay by paypal i have money back guarantee.
how much is the kook turf ball? it will be much more expensive because of the cost of manufacturing in australia / england compared to the vv cheap labour of india?
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Cheap materials as well, rock hard centres. Kooka turf balls are about $110 au per ball.
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Unfortunately there is no international cricket in Pakistan but domestic T20 has Kookaburra Turf while first class has Grays ball.
I have noticed a difference in SG Test red and white one. Both are harder than Kookaburra Turf, however, I am still amused how SG Test is used for Indian test/first class games. It seems like a harder ball, thinner leather, not very prominent seam and gets very soft after use. SG Test flies off the bat, making it so pingy!
England and West Indies use Dukes while India uses SG Test and rest use Kookaburra Turf.
Thanks for the reply :) and the info on the construction and play of the sg balls. Lets see how i find them.
i hope for cricket and pk crickets sake there is INT cricket again soon in pk. T20 shows more countries are playing cricket so it can only be good.
As long as the sg and the sf feel good of the bat, (and not damage my bats) thats all i care. As for the thinner leather. i hope they are not cutting corners (economically) and its to favour the harder hitting batsman or something like that. It is a test ball so it has to be good / exceptional i guess.
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Cheap materials as well, rock hard centres. Kooka turf balls are about $110 au per ball.
thanks for the reply also.
Sorry which ball exactly is " Cheap materials as well, rock hard centres", the sg? sf? (i know some of the asian balls are like that but they are cheaper lower end stuff, which I'm not going to get, been there done that... they do swing a lot!!! ) as for sg and sf; cant possibly be (cheap and rock hard?) , if its test match ???
110au thats about £58 , i rather get a dukes or readers for 70 and 65 in that case as it from uk as well.
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I completely agree the comments regarding the readers cricket balls. We use the readers sovereign ball and it does not swing feels hard. It will seem around for 10 overs then the seem goes soft and the ball loses its shape and does very little.
thanks hanif.
your right id expect the readers to retain their shine for longer and offer the conventional swing bowler more but they do wear down quick and basically you have to seam it to get something back.. but overall they are ok, if your opening up and in england they so still swing... i know indoors they do... its best to practice with old balls and then in a match the new ones seems to do more... but the trick is to also practice with the new ball (from time to time) and learn to control it, as its easily to forget how to swing the ball.. if your always using old nasty balls that favour the reverse swing.. or go bolt straight as your speed is not high enough. :) (or no one else in the team bothers to shine or look after it the way the pros do.
iv listened to an interview where atherton said in one of his series, they tossed up and akram won the toss all three times in favour of the readers ball (as it would reverse more, hence favour the pak attack) but atherton would have chosen the dukes (as it would have favoured his conventional swing england attack) . makes sense that readers wear down fast. To reverse swing the ball, we need pace... which most of us don't have !!! 90mph+
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The Tiflex balls are very high quality in my opinion, definitely the best ball I've ever used! Not sure what grade it was again, but I think it was the 2nd best one. I think the Tiflex Magna is a decent ball too, had some pink ones and no issues with them other than folk knicking them!
nice. ill have to have a look at tiflex. looks good on the website. cheers.
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Just received a bulk buy from Nathan at tiflex. Can't say more than they look the part.. And I've tried the sg from OLS, and didn't grow fond of them.
Tiflex has 3 grades, t20 (nets ball) 50 overs and the test version.
The magna, the Windsor and the test - which by Nathan's call should be able to challenge the mighty kookaburra turf. They even have a subcontinent style coming later this spring. I can give you Nathan's mail if you like.
hi thanks for the reply. the info is handy.
i would only be after the tiflex oxbridge grade 1 balls. rrp about £70. not sure how much nathan can sell them for. ill ask him, if you have his email to give.
whats the subcontinent ball, how would it differ? just more hard wearing? more pronounced seam?
one thing i don't get is why the subcontinent teams use the kook, the ball looks perfectly round. the seam on it is just for deco in my view. made by machine so its bound to be all consistent. it far too much favours the batsman and the game nowadays has turned to a baseball version. the shorter versions are drifting too much in favour of the hitters. crowds love it, new non cricketers are captured by it, but really there has to be a balance between bat and ball the good old english way. ??
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Test balls are hand stitched.
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Kookaburra reg vs a magna from tiflex
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160311/b81048dbffeeed3c5a0cd734b8b92553.jpg)
Seem is broader on the kookaburra. Not as high..
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You are better off considering CA Super Test as its a better ball than both SF Test and SG test. Do not go for anything like CA test star as its not great.
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We use Oxbridge owned by Tiflex.
Tiflex and the brands that they own might make very good balls, it just has yet to filter down into our league unfortunately and I haven't had the pleasure of seeing such. We get all sorts from very dark red balls that are hard to see for the batter and fielders, to balls that the leather scuffs after the first over and misshape.
I've used Duke and found them to be a decent, if not the best cricket ball that we've played with in league cricket. Durable and of a good quality.
These are the only two balls that we have had supplied for our Saturday league cricket, so that is the recommendation that I can give. I could go on but I won't.
the oxbridge tiflex grade 1 ball you mention is an international / county / minor county ball. according to the website it more then passes the requirements of a international ball with ease. I'm impressed by this. yet to see it in hand ..
as for the dukes, which duke was it exactly, they have lots of different model names etc... and there is a big price difference between the best ball i.e test ball (£70) and their second best the duke international (£25), (which i now have and it looks almost the same as the readers sovereign special but a fraction the seam is a bit broader and a fraction more firmer if at all) the test is when you play 50+ overs with it. which iv done with the rss but not with the dukes Int.
the dukes don't have any ball between the £70 test ball and the £25 dukes international ball.
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You are better off considering CA Super Test as its a better ball than both SF Test and SG test. Do not go for anything like CA test star as its not great.
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hi thanks for a new and different response.
this is interesting. i used ca balls maybe 20 years ago, perhaps the ca gold or something... they swung too much.... some said they were hard. never used ca again.
what makes you say they are better then sg test as the sg are used in test matches and are approved by ici... where or what standard do the ca test can be used to is is simply because there made in pakistan, they don't have a good / well known rep as the dukes etc...
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Last season we used CA super test for some of our 40 over games and T20 games and they last through them nicely. They do swing more than other balls but are not hard at all and don't damage the bat like at cheaper CA or other unbranded Pakistan made balls.
Here is a link to a blog where Jason from cricket store online did some reviews on them. Links to part 1 and 2 of the three blog series is at the bottom of the article.
http://cricketgearreviews.com/cricket-balls-whats-inside-part-3/
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Last season we used CA super test for some of our 40 over games and T20 games and they last through them nicely. They do swing more than other balls but are not hard at all and don't damage the bat like at cheaper CA or other unbranded Pakistan made balls.
Here is a link to a blog where Jason from cricket store online did some reviews on them. Links to part 1 and 2 of the three blog series is at the bottom of the article.
[url]http://cricketgearreviews.com/cricket-balls-whats-inside-part-3/[/url] ([url]http://cricketgearreviews.com/cricket-balls-whats-inside-part-3/[/url])
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for some reason i don't trust ca balls, even if they say super test on them. maybe because they are too cheap... or they have a pak name on them... (only because they are not used in tests). i hope the problem is in my perception and nothing else. i seem to prefer only the ones used in test matches or county games or have been used in them or are approved by ici for them or were... like tiflex they are not used in international or county circuit but seem to be just as good as any other premium pro ball. i just seem to have a bias here?? or is it my ignorance that iv not tried them.
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Unfortunately there is no international cricket in Pakistan but domestic T20 has Kookaburra Turf while first class has Grays ball.
I have noticed a difference in SG Test red and white one. Both are harder than Kookaburra Turf, however, I am still amused how SG Test is used for Indian test/first class games. It seems like a harder ball, thinner leather, not very prominent seam and gets very soft after use. SG Test flies off the bat, making it so pingy!
England and West Indies use Dukes while India uses SG Test and rest use Kookaburra Turf.
the indians will always prepare things to their home advantage as most teams. but they will go the extra mile in anything possible. the harder ball will favour their batsman dominated team, and the thinner leather i think may just keep costs down, or if not then again it will favour their hard hitting (home) batsman, who will have a very clear advantage as the only country to use the sg balls.
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Got a Kook turf in white (as its used in LA and ODI in the UK) and a Dukes Special County (the test/ fc balls).
Both very good optkons, the sound they make even when tapping bats is great!
I've always found it strange that people on here don't factor in the ball being used in their endless tapping of bats.
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I've always found it strange that people on here don't factor in the ball being used in their endless tapping of bats.
exactly why, I'm getting the high end balls for high end bats.
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I've always found it strange that people on here don't factor in the ball being used in their endless tapping of bats.
I have a special tapping up ball!
It's a 47 over old Duke, chosen because it is still reasonably firm (not a rock, or a sponge) so is a good way to judge responsiveness.
It also makes the nicest sound on ping test videos ;)
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exactly why, I'm getting the high end balls for high end bats.
Because top quality balls make a completely different sound on a good bat to cheap balls.
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Did some highcatching drills with the tiflex balls yesterday. Magna, the cheap one, sounds like my cheap sg club, and feels hard. Would worry about the feel of this ball. But one doesn't know till our nets are open. The medium quality, Windsor ball, sounds remarkably like the kookaburra turf of the bat. Doesn't seem hard, actually, think I might have found a proper cheapish ball to net with. But let's see when April starts.
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Did some highcatching drills with the tiflex balls yesterday. Magna, the cheap one, sounds like my cheap sg club, and feels hard. Would worry about the feel of this ball. But one doesn't know till our nets are open. The medium quality, Windsor ball, sounds remarkably like the kookaburra turf of the bat. Doesn't seem hard, actually, think I might have found a proper cheapish ball to net with. But let's see when April starts.
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Batch of Windsors I used a couple years ago stayed lovely and hard for ages but barely swung and went dull very quickly, good net ball if you're not bothered about it swinging. Only had one net with Magna after I got some from Vitas but the lacquer seems much better on it, too early to say how hard it'll stay.
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Heres an update on the Windsor after 2 hours of bowling. Maybe 20 odd overs. Filthy pitch mind you, and damp. Shape is perfect, seem opened a bit, see picture. Still swinging and seeming.
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160317/59e7441f4d94dfc23b99b18f064b4007.jpg)(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160317/405c5282b38822b248eded0339d4c41b.jpg)(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160317/5098b6755ed25e2b853bb444d8ae4e90.jpg)(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160317/71e5751e88a8b473ae7d94f05f602d89.jpg)
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nice pics, thanks for that.
iv ordered some sg test balls from india along with some sf international balls also. when they will arrive i will do a short review + pics of the balls i have.
they will be
1 )Sg test balls (approved by bcci, for test and first class matches in India)
2 Sf international balls, (not approved by bcci, but still high quality told same as sg for test and FC matches) just lighter in colour
3) Dukes international cricket balls (otherwise also known as dukes crown prince or DUKES ROYAL COUNTY 'A' CRICKET BALL) .
4) Readers sovereign special cricket balls
5) kookaburra first ever pink ball for test matches (two piece, am told same as the test ball but only its made in two piece not four) .
6/7) maybe one or two others also, but they will all be from premier league cricket or above. any more suggestions let me know. thanks
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Just opened up one of our club match balls,(I'm not a fan, so wanted to see why) and it's just solid re constituted rubber with bits of stone, plastic etc!
I've never seen anything like it to be honest.
The balls made up of three parts only
The outer leather?
A plastic cup
And the re constituted rubber
Is this more common these days, or is this just a cheap rip off bat breaker??
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I have use the whole range of Tiflex balls and found the Blenheim to be the best. It is not on the website, you need to ask Nathan for it. It is the standard match ball in the Cherwell league
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I think it's stupid any old ball can be used in our league.
Why the oca haven't adopted one type per club baffles me
I'm gonna start borrowing oppos used match balls and cut them open for a look
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Just opened up one of our club match balls,(I'm not a fan, so wanted to see why) and it's just solid re constituted rubber with bits of stone, plastic etc!
I've never seen anything like it to be honest.
The balls made up of three parts only
The outer leather?
A plastic cup
And the re constituted rubber
Is this more common these days, or is this just a cheap rip off bat breaker??
I'm shocked to hear this being done by any manufacturer. You need to show this to your club/league .
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To me, it's a ball that's cost pennies to manufacture.
Someone's making a huge mark up on these.
Our club pays a small fortune for them
I can make them literally swing round corners, but I know that's not right.
the balls are also bat and hand breakers