(Photo: Bradley Kanaris / Getty Images)
By Richard Edwards
Dukes chief, Dilip Jajodia, is confident that the ball used for the first ever Day/Night Test in England will stand up to scrutiny – and has rubbished claims to the contrary by arch-rivals Kookaburra.
The Dukes’ pink ball will be used at Edgbaston as England and the West Indies make history in Birmingham next week.
All eyes will be on the ball for just the fifth ever Day/ Night Test and despite criticism from Kookaburra, Jajodia has no concerns that the Dukes ball will last the pace.
And he laughs off suggestions from the Australian company that his own design is five years behind their own – a claim made by Kookaburra’s head of communications to The Mail on Sunday last weekend.
“I’ve got no worries about it, none whatsoever,” he tells The Cricket Paper.
“There were a few comments made about the pink ball (after this summer’s round of Day/Night County Championship matches) but my experience in life is that anything new is bound to bring about comments.
“People feel that they’ve not only got to make a comment but also be critical. In this day and age, especially with social media, one person says something and everyone jumps on the bandwagon.
“But, generally, I’m relaxed, the ECB is relaxed, the MCC is relaxed – everybody is relaxed.”
That’s in contrast to Kookaburra, which appears to be getting rather het up at Dukes’ incursion into territory that it has traditionally seen as its own.
Whereas the hand-stitched Dukes is now the ball of choice for red ball cricket in this country, Kookaburra have enjoyed a monopoly in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa cricket since 1946.
Dukes is gradually changing that with the English ball manufacturer having had its ball trialled in the Sheffield Shield for the second part of the most recent domestic Aussie season.
Ed Cowan, the former Australian opener, is just one of a number of players supporting the widespread introduction of the ball Down Under.
“I think the Dukes is a far superior cricket ball to the Kookaburra in terms of the quality of contest between bat and ball,” he said back in February.
“From Australian cricket’s point of view I’d love Cricket Australia to look really hard at using Dukes balls in Test cricket in Australia.”
Any moves to do so would put one of Australia’s most iconic companies under considerable financial pressure, particularly given Dukes’ determination to crack the club cricket market in the country too.
