During the third Test between England and India at Lord’s, both teams voiced concerns about the Dukes ball, which was losing its hardness with every passing over. Prior to the match, Ben Stokes, Shubman Gill, and Rishabh Pant had already spoken out on this issue, and as the game progressed, both teams continued to complain, particularly the Indian team.
The matter gained further attention when multiple former cricketers, including Stuart Broad, highlighted the problem, stressing that the Dukes ball needs to be made more durable, as it typically lasts less than 80 overs, and the umpires are forced to change more often than not.
After the third Test against West Indies, Australia too joined the conversation regarding the deterioration of the Dukes ball in the last few years. Head coach Andrew McDonald noted that the Pink Dukes ball seemed unplayable at one point, and as a result, the game moved too fast. Notably, West Indies were bundled for 27 runs in the fourth innings, which is the second-lowest score in Test cricket history, as Australia won the match by 176 runs.
“It's really difficult to make accurate judgments on both batting units, based upon the surfaces we played on. You take that into the third Test, which is a pink ball, Dukes, on that surface and that game just moved way too fast and at times didn't even look like cricket,” McDonald said via The New Ball on SEN Radio.
“We investigated what the pink Dukes ball does, in terms of data points, and it was compelling. That cricket was borderline impossible to play at certain stages. Some of those deliveries from Mitchell Starc, the way that ball behaved under lights ... and so it's a bigger question for what the pink Dukes ball looks like for Test match cricket, really,” he added.
The surfaces did surprise: McDonald
Even though Australia won the series 3-0, the Pat Cummins-led side didn’t have a great time with the bat. Addressing that, McDonald stated that the surface surprised him a bit and expected the top order to score runs as the games go deeper, but unfortunately, that dind’t happen, with both Usman Khawaja and Sam Konstas having a rough time.
“We do play with Dukes balls over here [in the West Indies], so that does create more seam movement by just the nature of the ball. But yeah, the surfaces did surprise. We felt like there'd be a lot more top order runs and then the games going deeper,” McDonald mentioned.