See also: [|"Cricket Ball"]

When it comes to sports, cricket is considered second most popular sport around the world that comes after the soccer. In India, cricket is the most popular sports and became a religion for many people. Two main equipments of the cricket are the Bat and Ball. Over the years, the bats have undergone a substantial transformation, but the balls have, more or less, remained the same.^[1] Different types of balls are available in the market such as white ball, pink ball, red ball, seaming ball, old/new ball, hard/soft ball, Kookaburra ball, and seaming ball.^[2] With so much tactic language used for ball in cricket, there are two questions, that everyone wants to hear the answers to: What's inside a cricket ball and how are they made?^[2]

When a bowler bowls fast or spin, it generates speed that has a strong influence on the result of the delivery. For a faster bowler, release speed reduces batsman decision-making and swings the ball in either direction.^[3] For spin, bowlers, it changes how much ball spin in either direction and the effect of aerodynamic lift.

As the planet is made out of different layers, a cricket ball is also made out of different layers. Cricket ball material includes oxhide, cork (table 1^[4]), and worsted.^[5] It uses stripes or cork and tightly wound string. Then, it gets covered by a leather case. The highest quality leather is cut into four pieces and it is used in the outer layer. Around the ball, seam gets 6 stitches, 3 on either side of the ball. The mass of the cricket ball, must be between 155.9 and 163 g in men's games. ^[4] The seam must be rotated at 90 degrees angle to make sure cricket ball shape is correct. Then, each section is added into a vice, which molds the leather in the shape of the half ball (shape of a hemisphere).^[1]

Kent, South East England was the hub of cricket manufacturing. As demand got higher, labor cost started increasing in Kent and it was forced to look toward sub-continent to find cheaper labor.^[1] Sialkot in Pakistan and Jalandhar in India slowly became hubs of cricket ball manufacturing. Kookaburra, a company from Australia decided to open a factory in sub-continent. ^[1]

Kookaburra came out with the pink ball, which is slightly different than Red and White ball. Ball was tested first in four-day Cricket association of Bengal Super League final. More grass was left on pitch to protect the ball, but players were happy with results of the pink ball.^[6]

See also: [|"Cricket Ball weight and measurements"]

When it comes regulations, weight and measurements are different for Men’s cricket and Women's cricket. For men’s cricket ball measure must be between 8 and 9 inches and weight between 5.5 and 5.75 ounces.^[4] For women's cricket, measures must be between 8.3 and 8.9 inches and weight must be between 4 and 5 ounces.^[1]

Inside the ball there is hard exterior, which is covered by Hardened leather.^[2] There are two components to it. First, little portions of cork embraces the hard core of the ball, and then it gets turned into a hemisphere shape, which is covered by tightly wound string.^[2] Second, all of the components get weighed to confirm weight is within the approved guidelines of the cricket ball. Four pieces of leather are placed together and round shape of the ball is stitched with string. Later, the leather is dyed, stamped and gets covered with multiple coats of polish, which makes final product.^[2]

The Duke and SG balls are completely hand-made from beginning to end, while The Kookaburra ball is a machine-made. The Duke and the SG balls are gripped more for spinners because they have more pronounced seam than the Kookaburra.^[1] On the other hand, Kookaburra balls are more useful for a fast bowler because it swings more in the 1st 20-30 overs, but The Duke and SG balls don’t swing in the 1st few overs due to lacquer on the ball and starts swinging after couple overs.^[1] The Duke ball is more useful in the United Kingdom, because of the leather that is used in the Duke ball, which cannot last on the rough conditions found in the sub-continent. However, reverse swing is more helped with the Duke ball.^[1]