Cricket ball
British Standard BS 5993 specifies the construction details, dimensions, quality and performance of cricket balls.
A cricket ball is made with a core of cork, which is layered with tightly wound string, and covered by a leather case with a slightly raised sewn seam.
In a top-quality ball suitable for the highest levels of competition, the covering is constructed of four pieces of leather shaped similar to the peel of a quartered orange, but one hemisphere is rotated by 90 degrees with respect to the other.
Other colours were also experimented with, such as yellow and orange (glowing composite), for improved night visibility, but pink proved to be the preferred option.
The manufacturer of the red (or pink) balls used for Tests varies depending on location: India uses SG; England, Ireland and the West Indies use Dukes; and all other countries use Kookaburra.
[17][18] Cricket balls can be bowled at over 160km/h (100mph) by pace bowlers and made to deviate from a straight course, both in the air (known as 'swinging') and off the ground (known as 'seaming').
A spin bowler bowls at a slower speed, but imparts lateral revolutions on the ball at the point of delivery, so that when it bounces it deviates from a straight course more significantly than other methods.
This was said to be apparent in 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, even on traditionally swing-friendly British pitches, particularly with white balls, but the former West Indian bowler Ian Bishop was unwilling to support this.
In a June 2020 press release, the ICC announced that "A team can be issued up to two warnings per innings but repeated use of saliva on the ball will result in a 5-run penalty to the batting side.
[20] The MCC conducted research during the period that shining the ball using saliva was banned, and they concluded that "there was little or no impact on the amount of swing that bowlers were getting".
Cricket balls are hard and potentially lethal, so most of today's batters and close fielders often wear protective equipment.
[24] Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707–1751) is often said to have died of complications after being hit by a cricket ball, although the connection between the incident and his actual cause of death is unproven.
[26] The Indian batter Nariman 'Nari' Contractor had to retire from the game after being hit on the head by a ball in the West Indies in 1962.
[28] Lamba was fielding at forward short leg without a helmet when a ball struck by batter Mehrab Hossain hit him on the head and rebounded to wicket-keeper Khaled Mashud.
A cricket umpire, Alcwyn Jenkins, died in 2009 in Swansea, Wales after being hit on the head by a ball thrown by a fielder.
[23] On 27 October 2013, South African cricketer Darryn Randall died after being hit on the head by the ball while batting.
[29] The same week, Hillel Oscar, an umpire and former captain of Israel's national cricket team, died after being hit in the neck by a ball.
[30] On 14 August 2017, Zubair Ahmed died after being hit on the head while batting in a club match played in the Mardan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
A common variant is to tape only half the tennis ball, to provide two different sides and make it easy to bowl with prodigious amounts of swing.
