Holding and the Kookaburra Balls

Tue, Apr 6, '04

 

CARIBBEANCRICKET.COM EDITORIAL

On the television broadcast throughout the Test series against England, Michael Holding has spent a lot of time reminding us that the Kookaburra branded balls being used have been unhelpful to the West Indies pace attack.

Holding is absolutely right but, as a member of the WICB's Cricket Committee (Playing and Development), his incessant carping is directed at the wrong audience.

Of course, it would help if Holding actually attended Cricket Committee meetings (he has never once shown his face). But, even in his absence, is it too much to ask the former fast bowling legend to prepare and submit a discussion paper to help the WICB formulate a strong policy on the use of certain types of cricket balls?

The tale of the Kookaburra ball offers an interesting insight into the decision-making process at Factory Road. Back in 2002, the board got a formal request from the Roger Harper/Ricky Skerritt management team to use the Kookaburra balls for home series because these balls were being used in all other Test-playing nations.

At the time, the WICB was using the Dukes branded balls, which had a more pronounced seam. By contrast, the Kookaburra's seam is much less "raised" and the wear-and-tear after a 20+ overs makes it soft and unhelpful to fast bowling.

At the most inopportune time, the WICB's supplier in England, a man by the name of Bill Edwards, supplied a "bad batch" of Dukes balls that had to be changed more often than normal. The bad batch helped to lend more credence to team management's request for a switch to the Kookaburra.

Instead of processing the request through the Cricket Committee, the WICB acted on the Harper/Skerritt recommendation and duly procured the Kookaburra balls for use during the 2002 home series against India and New Zealand.

To make matters worse, the Kookaburra balls were not being used in the local first-class competitions which meant that a new player coming into the West Indies team would be using the Kookaburras for the very first time.

Where other countries were using the ball that suited their strengths, the WICB was actually giving an advantage to the opposition, even at home. In 2003, Michael Hall (then the Chief Cricket Operations Officer) finally saw the light and decided to use Kookaburras (one grade below the Test ball) in the domestic competition.

The debate on using the Kookaburra balls is nothing new. Over the years, there have been debates among ex-players about the wisdom of using a ball which did not favour the hard wickets in the Caribbean and which did not offer any advantage to West Indian bowlers at home.

Yet, inexplicably, the issue never went to the Cricket Committee for discussion.

Which brings us back to Michael Holding and his televised rants against the use of the Kookaburras. Holding, who is loved by fans for his outspokenness, gets a kick out of scoring brownie points when he could use his membership on the Cricket Committee to straighten out the issue.

At a time when ex-players are bawling for inclusion in the WICB set-up, here we have Mikey Holding on the inside and not doing much to help.

On Tuesday and Wednesday in Antigua, the Cricket Committee will hold another round of meetings. Holding, we believe, is in Antigua to work as a broadcaster for the fourth Test. We don't think it's too much to expect Holding to put in an appearance at the meeting with a Kookaburra ball in hand and with a firm recommendation in mind.

Holding owes it to us, doesn't he?

Kookaburra after 21 overs, beside a new one