- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
From the first time you feel the contact of leather on willow in India, so the Australian players say, there is something different about it.
This is not a reference to subcontinental weather, the crowd or the pitch, but quite simply to the local ball, which behaves rather differently to the Kookaburras so trusted at virtually every level of cricket down under.
Australian coach Tim Nielsen said that among the many lessons learned in his side’s first week here, the most valuable had been about the ball.
“Yeah, (the ball is diffferent) bigtime, that’s one that everybody’s been talking about, they feel different coming off the bat, they definitely have a different, waxier, ropier feel about the seam, and they tend to change shape a little,” Nielsen said.
“Ours tend to be pretty tight and as soon as they get out of shape they get swapped over whereas these ones naturally change shape so they are quite different and it does take a bit of getting used to.
“If they get any moisture into them at all they seem to get a little bigger, and they just have a different feel to them, the leather’s different to the Kookaburras, and they tend to scuff a bit quicker, so looking after the ball is a massive part of it.”
The nuances of ball care in India are key to success in the field, for in the absence of any help from an unforgiving surface it is swing, both conventional with the new ball and reverse with the old, that becomes vital.
Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and RP Singh are all well versed in coaxing movement out of the ball at home, a skill that must be picked up by an Australian pace battery that has never played a Test in India.
“We know that happens over here for sure. The ball will swing early,” Neisen said.
“If you can stand the seam up and do it right you’ll get some natural swing with the new ball and then the challenge is to get it going the other way as quick as you can.
“Working on the ball and how you do that is going to be important.
“India have got Zaheer Khan, Sharma, RP Singh who have all been really good at that, the left-armers especially had good success bowling around the wicket to right-handers in England last year, and here at different times.”
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.