Starc getting accustomed to foreign feeling of Dukes ball

The use of the English manufactured Dukes brand ball in Australia's Sheffield Shield competition might have helped top-order batters cope better with its pronounced swing, but it hasn’t proved of much advantage to Mitchell Starc.

That's because Starc, widely regarded as the pre-eminent swing bowler in the Australia men's Test team, has not been afforded the opportunity to bowl with the Dukes ball since it was introduced into the domestic competition in 2016-17.

The fact that the brand of ball used for Test and county cricket in the UK has been deployed in the second half of the Shield season when Starc has been engaged in international competition or recuperating from a hefty mid-summer workload means he's not benefitted directly from the Dukes experiment.

But from what he saw in the first Test at Edgbaston, and from his experiences with the new ball in the three-day tour game against Worcestershire that ended in a draw on Friday, he's not sure the current batch of Dukes balls is offering overt swing.

Starc is hopeful that might change in the second Test at Lord's starting on Wednesday, given the manner in which the white ball behaved there during the recent World Cup and its red counterpart swung for both teams in England's Test win over Ireland two weeks ago.

The 29-year-old left-armer staked his claim for a recall to Australia's Test XI with a pair of early Worcestershire wickets in this week's tour game even though he was not able to generate pronounced swing with the Dukes ball, which he last used during the previous Ashes campaign four years ago.

"I hadn’t held one in four years until I bowled with one in Southampton (during Australia's intra-squad warm-up game last month) because I hadn’t played with one in Australia," Starc said after the tour game in Worcester.

Image Id: 136AFCC0616F44519D6C968F6C87213D Image Caption: Starc got his first taste of the Dukes ball in Australia's intra-team practice match in Southampton // Getty

"It’s nice having them back in my hand and swinging them round (in) the nets.

"It didn’t do a lot during this (Worcester) game in the air, there was a little bit off the wicket with the harder seam and the harder surface.

"I guess conditions can play a part in how much it moves around off the wicket or in the air.

"We saw the white ball move around a fair bit more at Lord’s in the World Cup, so maybe that’s the same with the red ball.

"Judging by the Irish Test there a few weeks ago, that’s probably going to be the case there off the surface.

"We’ll have to see what that wicket is going to look like.

"Hopefully it moves around at training and we can take that into the game as well."

It was the Dukes' seam rather than its swing that became a talking point in the lead-up to the five-Test Ashes series that Australia now leads 1-0.

In order to try and boost the confidence and the returns of batters in their domestic first-class competition, the England and Wales Cricket Board requested the ball manufacturers (British Cricket Balls Ltd) slightly flatten the seam.

However, when it came to the ball for use in Test matches, the ECB asked that they sport the traditional seam thereby more closely mirroring the style of ball against which Australia's batters have struggled across four unsuccessful Ashes tours dating back to 2005.

What was noticeable during the opening Test at Edgbaston last week – played on a hard, dry pitch - was that the batch of Dukes ball that rolled off the production table earlier this year showed little propensity to swing.

As a result, both bowling teams appeared anxious to try and have their ball changed if it showed any hint of being out of shape, in the knowledge that any replacement balls showing similar levels of wear and tear must be from last year's consignment.

The fact that the Edgbaston game was only the second Test played this English summer – and the first, between England and Ireland, yielded barely 170 overs in total - there aren't many pre-used balls made to Tests specifications from the 2019 crop.

When Australia successfully asked for a replacement ball after 60 overs in England's first innings of the opening Test, the 'new' already worn ball immediately began to swing sharply.

England lost two quick wickets in those few overs that it wobbled about, but their captain Joe Root was unsuccessful in his bids during both Australia innings at Edgbaston to have their unresponsive ball swapped for another.

It led former England captains Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain to comment during the game's television commentary that the known tactic had been employed because the 2019 iteration of the Dukes ball was exhibiting few of the swing characteristics for which it has become renowned.

Image Id: DCA40E5F51994869983C839C32A9487F Image Caption: Joe Root presents the ball to umpire Joel Wilson during the first Ashes Test // Getty

“Oldest trick in the book, isn’t it?" Atherton said during 'Sky Sports' coverage of the Test.

“If you’re not happy with the ball and it’s not doing enough, you try and get it changed but the umpires are not easily fooled."

Hussain passed a sterner judgement, noting: “Stop all these delays, mind games and tricks."

"They are basically trying to change it (the ball) because it’s not doing anything."

The other mitigating factor that's been cited in discussions as to why the red ball does not seem to be swinging as much, or for as long as it has in recent Test series played in the UK is the proximity of the Ashes to the World Cup.

While seamers dominated the showpiece ODI tournament in defiance of experts who had predicted that spin bowling would be a decisive factor, pace bowlers were often more focused on preventing runs than trying to extract the maximum degrees of swing when the white ball was new.

But Starc maintained the transition from limited-overs cricket to the Test match format was perhaps more difficult for batters than for bowlers, who continued to try and execute similar skills regardless of whether they were playing 50-overs or five-day cricket.

"I don’t think it’s as hard to transfer from ball to ball in terms of the bowling," he said.

"Maybe it's a bit different with the bat (but) I still try and keep everything pretty simple, whether it be white ball or red ball – it's just that you’ve got to do it for longer with the red ball.

"My plans, I guess change a little bit, considering you’re not trying not to get hit for six every ball (in Test cricket).

"But it’s that consistency factor we’re looking for, and trying to build pressure from both ends.

"I thought we did that at a lot of stages throughout the bowling innings this week (against Worcestershire)."

2019 Qantas Ashes Tour of England

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner.

England squad: Joe Root (c), Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes (vc), Chris Woakes.

First Test: Australia beat England by 251 runs at Edgbaston

Second Test: August 14-18,Lord's

Third Test: August 22-26, Headingley

Tour match: Australians v Derbyshire, August 29-31

Fourth Test: September 4-8, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: September 12-16, The Oval