The Dukes talk has almost drowned out everything else in the England-India series. Every few sessions the umpires are asking for a replacement because the original has gone out of shape, and it has left plenty of watchers wondering where those spare balls actually come from.
Key facts first. Two or three days before every Test the host state association – Lancashire for Old Trafford, New South Wales for the SCG, Mumbai for Wankhede and so on – drops off a bag of used red balls with the fourth umpire. All of them have already done service in recent first-class matches at the same ground, so they know local pitches and outfields, in a manner of speaking.
The fourth umpire is the first quality-control station. Each ball goes through the familiar metal rings: if it slips through the smaller ring it is too small and is binned; if it will not go through the larger ring it is too big and also binned. Only the ones that pass the Goldilocks test – through one ring but not the other – earn a place in the so-called “ball library”, the wooden box that appears whenever there is a change.
Numbers vary. In England, India or Australia you can expect roughly 20 serviceable replacements to be ready. At quieter venues the stash can be nearer 12. If the fourth umpire is unhappy with the stock – maybe they are all at the newer end, or maybe half are mis-shapen – he or she flags it to the on-field umpires and the match referee, and more balls are requested.
“All we want is a ball we can keep using,” Anil Kumble said on television earlier in the Lord’s Test. “There can’t be so many ball changes in a Test match.” That view is shared by most bowlers; a swap can knock rhythm out of a spell or, conversely, hand fresh swing to the batting side. Either way someone feels hard done by.
Once the library is in place the umpires try not to dip into it. The laws say a ball may be replaced for genuine damage, pronounced wetness or if it fails the ring test during a shape check. There is no provision for it simply going soft. Even roundness is not directly prescribed; the only requirement is that it must still pass one ring and not the other. In short, unless the umpires cannot continue with the ball, it stays.
When a change is unavoidable the officials look for the “nearest possible equivalent” in terms of wear. It is a judgement call. A 40-over ball from a lush spring county match might look younger than a 25-over ball thrashed around on a dry, abrasive pitch. The fourth umpire generally offers two or three candidates and the standing umpires make the final pick, often giving both captains and the batter on strike a brief glance – more courtesy than choice.
That is why players sometimes grimace even when a fresh-ish replacement arrives. The new ball could move less than the battered one it replaces or, just as likely, zip off the seam when the bowlers had resigned themselves to a docile thing. Umpires do their best, but the process is never precise.
All the while manufacturers try to keep tolerances tight, yet batches can vary. A slightly prouder seam, a fraction softer core, or a touch of extra lacquer – any of those tiny tweaks turn up on the field weeks later. Until that is ironed out, the ball library will stay busy.
A quick glossary for casual fans:
• Ring gauge – two metal rings of set diameters; the ball must pass through the larger but not the smaller.
• Ball library – the umpires’ box of pre-checked balls of varying age and wear, ready for use if the match ball is replaced.
• Overs – six-ball units that measure how long a ball has been in play; discolouration and seam wear usually increase with overs bowled.
For all the fuss, replacements remain the exception rather than the norm. Most Tests still manage with the original ball for 80 overs at a stretch, then take the mandatory new one. When they don’t, remember the small army of fourth umpires, state associations and ring gauges working behind the scenes, trying – not always successfully – to keep things fair.
