About Cricket Balls

Cricket, while closely resembling the game of baseball, is a completely different game, particularly when it comes to the art of pitching. There are many rules regarding the composition and use of the ball. There is also a difference in delivery between pitchers in baseball and bowlers in cricket (the equivalent of a pitcher).

  1. Composition of cricket balls

    • Similar to a baseball, a cricket ball has a cork core that is wrapped tightly with leather and stitched together with a slightly raised sewn seam. Red balls are used in official day games, but white balls are usually used in day-night matches (those that begin in the day and end at night. The games last six hours). This is because red balls are much harder to pick up under lights. In men's cricket, the ball must weigh between 5.5 and 5.75 ounces and measure between 8 13/16th and 9 inches in circumference.

    Pitchers and bowlers

    • In baseball, the pitcher throws from a mound 60-feet 6 inches across a 17-inch-wide home plate. If the ball passes through the strike zone, if the batter swings and misses or contacts the ball without putting it within the boundaries of the playing field, it is considered a strike. Three strikes and the batter is out.
      In cricket, the bowler has a lot more latitude from where he bowls. Technically, he may bowl the ball anywhere on the field from the front of the umpire to the "bowling crease," which is approximately 22 yards from the wickets. The wickets are behind the hitter. However, the bowler may get a running start before he bowls and the ball may not bounce more than twice before it gets to the batter.

    The bowling and pitching craft

    • The pitchers' and bowlers' craft is considered the same in both sports, which is to deceive the hitter into making an out. Outs are called different things and are accomplished in a myriad of different ways in the two sports.

    Polish and scuffing

    • In baseball, it is illegal to introduce a foreign substance to the ball or scuff it in any unusual way because it can make the ball react differently than it would if completely spherical. In cricket, the ball is polished as part of the manufacturing process and throughout the innings either by the bowler, fielders or catcher. A polished ball in cricket is considered more active, in that you can make it spin inward or outward depending on how the ball is held and released. Usually, a bowler likes to continually polish one side of the ball, leaving the other side unpolished. The friction difference and other factors can make the ball act more erratically after a bounce before it gets to the batter, thus making it much more difficult to hit.

    Movement

    • While in some physics circles it is maintained that a baseball doesn't curve because the laws of physics and aerodynamics make it impossible to do so, ask any batter and they will tell you differently. The same argument cannot be made for a cricket ball, where things such as the Magnus Effect theoretically curve the ball.