Rob Key insists English cricket 'would be much better off' using Kookaburra ball for full County Championship seasons despite criticism after latest trial

Rob Key has backed the use of Kookaburra balls for full County Championship seasons in future despite the first fortnight of 2024 producing just one positive result.

Amidst widespread criticism of the balls going soft prematurely in the damp conditions and huge totals being racked up due to a perceived imbalance between batters and bowlers, Key, the England team director, countered that the latest trial away from the established Dukes has been ‘fantastic.’

‘I’ve watched quite a bit this week and seen some bloody good cricket. I would use the Kookaburra all the time. English cricket would be much better off for it,’ Key told the Guardian, after 17 of the first 18 fixtures ended in draws.

Key has been enthused by the increased use of spinners - the most prolific bowlers in each division are Surrey leg-spinner Cameron Steel and Alex Thomson, the Derbyshire off-spinner, respectively - at a time of year when they habitually remain in cold storage.

However, aside from Essex’s Sam Cook, who took a 10-for at Trent Bridge to inspire the only win thus far, established seamers have struggled.

And there have been some gargantuan totals posted. Take Middlesex, who have had opponents declare on 620 for three and 552 for six. On both occasions, they cruised into first-innings leads.

Matthew Potts and Brydon Carse, both in the reckoning for England’s first Test versus West Indies in July, went wicketless at Edgbaston where Durham were asked to follow-on by Warwickshire despite posting 517.

‘That looked a turgid pitch but they are much better equipped for international cricket than if they bowled on English snake pits with a Dukes ball moving all over the place. The best bowlers come from the flattest pitches,’ Key argued.

‘Why do we think in India their batters come into the Test side averaging 70 [in the Ranji Trophy]? Do you think they’re playing with a little nibbly Dukes ball where it’s doing all sorts? What do we want to be? I want us to be the best team in the world for a generation; this will be one way to do that.’

Potts hit a career-best 149 as nightwatchman to emphasise the disparity between bat and ball.

A second fortnight of Kookaburra action is scheduled to take place in late August/early September when it will be hoped that dry weather will promote some reverse swing for the faster men as well as assistance for spinners, some of whom claim the Kookaburra’s seam is easier to grip.

Until then, however, English cricket’s first-class competition will revert to the Dukes product that according to Key has given the 75-mile-per-hour dobbers too much encouragement and in turn persuaded their counties to select them ahead of quicker, more dynamic alternatives.