English counties will start the domestic season with only half the number of balls they require for the summer, with the conflict in the Middle-East disrupting the supply chain of Dukes balls.
It was revealed in a report in the Daily Mail today (March 19), that a "major crisis" in supplying balls for the English summer, including international matches, will leave first-class counties short of balls when the season starts in two weeks' time. Dukes supply balls for use in all Test cricket in England, Ireland and the West Indies, as well as for use in English domestic cricket.
Dukes owner: Cost of shipment has increased three times
However, the conflict in the Middle East has sent the cost of transporting the balls skyrocketing, with a backlog of freight slowing down the transfer process.
"We’ve got plenty of stuff in the factories in the subcontinent ready to go, but the airlines are not taking the freight, because there’s a logjam," Dukes owner Dilip Jajodia told the Daily Mail.
"The rates have gone up too. A box of 120 cricket balls would be charged normally by airlines at about $5 a kilo. The last quote I got was $15 a kilo. Most of the stuff goes through the Middle East, but if you’ve suddenly got rockets flying around, you’ve got a major problem."
Dukes are made from leather taken from British cows, which is then tanned in Chesterfield. However, the leather is then shipped to South Asia where it's stitched into balls, and then shipped back to the UK. The difficulties in shipping the balls back once they've been stitched together means that Dukes have given each county only 50 per cent of the balls they need for the entire season.
The situation is further complicated by the ending of the ECB's use of the Kookaburra ball for periods of the County Championship. The controversial experiment was scrapped for the 2026 season, meaning the Dukes will be the only ball used during the English domestic summer. Dukes are reportedly exploring other routes of transport from the subcontinent which avoid the disruption to flight traffic in the Middle East.
The County Championship will start on April 3, with the first Test match of the summer set for the first week of June.
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