Quantcast

Dukes ball tossed up for Shield

Cricket Australia open to considering all options to combat weakness against swinging ball

The Sheffield Shield could feature Dukes balls in the lead-up to future away Ashes series as Cricket Australia vows to look at all options to combat the current weakness against swing bowling.

The Dukes, which generally swing more and have a more pronounced, hand-stitched seam than Kookaburra brand balls, have previously been used in the second XI Futures League competition and in Under-17s and Under-19s championships for the past three years.

Quick Single: Burns leads fresh faces in ODI squad

Executive General Manager, Team Performance, Pat Howard said the use of Dukes ball in Shield was a point to be raised on the CA agenda.

“It’s something that we’ve thought about and will be discussing with the High Performance Managers in each state,” Howard said.

“We may give consideration to using a Dukes ball in Shield competition in the two seasons leading up to the next Ashes series in the UK.

“That could involve using a Kookaburra ball for the first half of the season and a Dukes ball for remainder of the year.

“There are no contractual obligations around cricket balls.”

Uncapped trio receive ODI call-up

CA has invested heavily in developing spinning wickets at the Bupa National Cricket Centre facilities in a bid to combat a perceived weakness in subcontinental conditions, and will now investigate doing something similar to replicate English conditions.

"We would certainly also be looking at greening up practice pitches and maybe getting batsmen up to Brisbane to practice on fresh pitches during the wet season," Howard told News Corp.

"It has obviously been an issue for us to adapt to conditions in other countries. We are being criticised for being flat-track bullies only.

"To be a good team you have got to be better than that and play well in all conditions."

Australia slumped to defeat inside three days in Test matches at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge to surrender the Ashes back to England. The team's inability to deal with the swinging, seaming Dukes ball saw Australia collapse to an embarrassing 60 all out on the first morning of the fourth Test.

It means Australia has not won an Ashes series on English soil in four attempts since 2001.

Quick Single: Brad Haddin returning home early

Meanwhile, Howard has also conceded he faces a review of his position after the Ashes campaign.

"I need to be reviewed and I have absolutely no problem with that," Howard said.

"Clearly I have got to take leadership over this. We lost and someone is accountable and ultimately I am accountable. The first person I want people looking for is me rather than anyone else."

Howard said he would review the strategic decisions made ahead of the tour, including opting for experienced veterans over youth, pulling Ryan Harris out of Shield cricket to put him on an intensive fitness regimen and the logistics issues that saw selectors pick a joint West Indies and Ashes tour squad in early April.

"I do think we need to work with more flexibility for the selectors," Howard said.

"I know why we did it. It was because all the players were going on a break and I didn't want to pick a West Indies team and then an Ashes team, and then need somebody to get off a beach and into the Ashes squad."

Darren Lehmann wrote a strong defence of having players' families on tour for cricket.com.au today, and those views were echoed by Howard.

Quick Single: Lehmann apologises for Ashes defeat

"There has got to be some way of making sure their family life has some degree of normality," Howard said.

"The girls were at Lord's and we won easily. The cricket schedule is so packed it is very important to consider the wives and partners. People think that when it is summer, our cricketers are at home. But they are not at home, they are touring."