On Friday, November 7, in a big decision in English cricket, the counties confirmed the decision to scrap the controversial trial of using the Kookaburra ball in the County Championship after three seasons.
The trial was first brought into place in English cricket after a disastrous run for the national team in Test cricket in the pandemic era, which was also attributed to the players not adapting fast enough from county to international level.
Notably, the Kookaburra ball trial first took place three years ago in the two rounds of matches in the County Championship and faced immediate criticism from coaches after the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had proposed it as part of the high-performance review by former English captain Andrew Strauss. Despite that, the trail was expanded to four rounds of matches in the County Championship after Rob Key, the managing director of England’s men’s cricket team, convinced counties for it.
Rob Key was a big advocate for usage of Kookaburra ball in County Championship
The criticism for the move came at the time from Alec Stewart, former England captain and Surrey official, who called it “the worst decision ever” following 17 draws in the first 18 matches ended in draws but Key thought otherwise. The Kookaburra ball trial continued for the four rounds of matches in the recently concluded 2025 season and saw a lot of batting records being made in the County Championship with Surrey scoring 820/9d against Durham at The Oval in London.
Following that, all the 18 counties in English cricket stated their wish to scrap the Kookaburra ball trial at a meeting last month and bring back Dukes ball full-time from next season onwards in the County Championship. As per the report published in ESPNcricinfo, the decision was confirmed at a meeting earlier this week of the Cricket Advisory Group - a sub-committee of the ECB Professional Game Committee - earlier this week.
Moreover, the England cricket team will be playing a five-match Ashes Test series later this month down under against Australia where Kookaburra ball will be used right throughout.
