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14/11/2007
What is the world coming to ?.....by Graham Hooper
I came across this article on the world wide web and thought it would be of interest.
The colour of balls used in the English one-day game could change
from white to pink if trials by the Marylebone Cricket
Club (MCC), guardians of the laws of cricket, prove successful.
"Paint tends to flake off white balls and we have asked
(manufacturers) Kookaburra to produce a batch of pink ones because
these show up so much better," MCC's head of cricket John Stephenson
told The New Zealand Times newspaper.
"The challenge is to produce a ball which retains its colour."
"My aim would be to use the pink ball in Twenty20 cricket in 2009 and
thereafter in one-day international cricket but this
will be dependent on trials and what the ECB (England and Wales
Cricket Board) thinks."
Stephenson said the plan was to experiment with the pink ball in
second XI and university matches next season.
Kookaburra has developed a batch of pink balls which will be used in
Australia's womens cricket this season.
Former England captain Mike Gatting, the ECB's managing director of
cricket partnerships, said: "We must always push the
game forward and ensure we have the right equipment."
"We have tried white and orange balls and perhaps pink ones will last
longer. This is a very interesting and very wise
development and a colour may have been found that is easier on the
eye."
By
Graham Hooper
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