The Kookaburra ball experiment in the County Championship will reportedly be scrapped from 2026 onwards, after counties voted to return to exclusively using the Duke's ball.
'Worst decision ever' set to come to an end
The Kookaburra ball has been used at points in the County Championship from 2023 onwards. It was used for two rounds in 2023, before it's use was expanded to four out of 14 rounds in 2024 and 2025.
However, it has been reported by The Telegraph that a post-season meeting of county directors' of cricket decided to scrap the experiment, with all rounds of the 2026 competition set to use the Duke's ball. The meeting was reportedly attended by Rob Key, one of the staunchest defenders of Kookaburra use in the Championship, but the decision was ultimately left in the hands of the counties. Last year, Key said: “I would use the Kookaburra all the time. English cricket would be much better off for it.”
Several county coaches, however, have criticised its use. Earlier this year, Yorkshire head coach, Anthony McGrath said he was “not sure why we are using it,” while former Australia head coach, now in charge at Northants, Darren Lehmann, said: "The Kookaburra ball is for Australian conditions on wickets that are harder and have got some carry”.
Surrey Director of Cricket Alec Stewart labelled the experiment, “the worst decision ever,” last year, while Somerset captain Lewis Gregory replied, “can I swear?” when he was asked his thoughts on the ball.
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The Duke's ball is used by England in home Test matches, and is known to offer more seam and swing than other balls. It's hand-stitched, compared to the machine-stitched Kookaburra, which general softens quicker and provides less assistance to bowlers.
The inclusion of the ball in the Championship was first recommended by the 2022 High Performance review, led by former England captain Andrew Strauss. The review was commissioned after England were heavily defeated in the 2021/22 Ashes, and strove to create a "truly aligned high-performance system" which would allow England to become the best team in the world across all formats by 2027. Using the Kookaburra ball during Championship rounds was intended to allow bowlers to develop skills to succeed in Test cricket overseas, particularly in Australia, who use the Kookaburra ball for home Tests.
However, use of the Kookaburra in the Championship has led to criticism over increased draws and duller games. This summer, Surrey scored a record-breaking 820-9 in one of the matches using the Kookaburra, which included a triple hundred by Dom Sibley. Other matches saw similar run-fests during that round, with Warwickshire declaring on 679-7, and both Nottinghamshire and Sussex scoring over 500. While the Kookaburra was used mid-season this year, in 2024 it was used in the early part of the season, and produced 17 draws out of 18 games in the opening two rounds.
The other side, however, was that Kookaburra rounds boosted the use of spin in Championship games. One of the initial aims of the experiment was to push more matches into the final day and encourage more use of spin bowlers.
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