County Championship: Sussex boss Paul Farbrace sceptical about Kookaburra ball trial
- Published
Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace sees no good reason to ditch the Dukes ball for the next two rounds of County Championship games
County Championship debuts sometimes go under the radar, but there's little doubt that one will be closely scrutinised when the four-day competition resumes on Sunday.
For the first time, English county games will feature the Kookaburra ball, a trial recommendation from the England and Wales Cricket Board's high-performance review, led by former England captain Sir Andrew Strauss.
The Australia-made ball - which will also be used for a second round of county games next month - is believed to swing and seam less than its English counterpart, the Dukes.
The theory is that players will benefit from gaining experience of the machine-stitched Kookaburra, rather than seeing it for the first time when selected for an Ashes series in Australian conditions.
However, former England assistant coach Paul Farbrace - now head coach of Sussex, who travel to Glamorgan on Sunday - is unconvinced.
Farbrace told BBC Radio Sussex: "I am nervous that every time we have a poor Ashes, we dream up something to make county cricket better.
"I'm not sure that experimenting for two rounds with the Kookaburra is necessarily going to help English cricket go forward. Just because the Aussies play with a Kookaburra, why should we?
"If you play on good pitches then you can play with the Dukes ball. Teams across the country have produced excellent wickets to play on this year, despite some poor weather for a period.
"So my view is we don't need it and I think that's the consistent view of a lot of people. But we've got to get on with it."
'I think probably the timing is wrong'
One of Farbrace's Sussex predecessors, Warwickshire coach Mark Robinson, who worked with him last season at Edgbaston, takes a more positive approach towards the change of ball - although he is sceptical about the timing of the Kookaburra trial.
Robinson told BBC CWR: "It's interesting in the middle of an Ashes series. All the bowlers in contention for England are having to use a ball they won't use in the Test matches so probably the timing is wrong.
"Ideally it could have been done in September or in April or May. But it's part of county cricket and all the vagaries of the game that makes it exciting, interesting and different and we'll embrace it.
"We've been practising a little bit. It's exciting, we knew it was happening, so let's get on with it."
Gloucestershire medium-pacer Tom Price, whose side take on Yorkshire at Headingley, concedes seamers may find it harder to get more out of the Kookaburra, but is looking forward to the challenge.
Price, joint-leading wicket-taker for the West Country side this season, told BBC Radio Bristol: "There's an air of excitement. Not many of us have seen a red Kookaburra ball very often.
"We've had it in the nets, we've been practising a lot with it. Obviously the seam is a lot flatter compared with the Dukes ball and I guess we're thinking there's going to be less seam and swing movement.
"We're very lucky with Zafar Gohar, who is going to have a lot of workload but we probably play three spinners anyway in our best XI, so we've got a really rounded attack."
Worcestershire captain Brett D'Oliveira added: "A few of the guys who haven't been involved with the T20 squad, Joe Leach, Jake Libby and Azhar Ali have been practising with them and we've got a bit of feedback.
"Also, with having had Mitch Santner and Michael Bracewell on the team, we've been able to pick their brains as they've obviously used the Kookaburra a lot more than we have.
"But we don't know how the ball is going to react off the wicket, or how long it's going to swing for.
"It's just about being adaptable, which also applies to switching back into four-day mode from T20," he added, ahead of the Pears' return to action at home to Derbyshire, in which their latest signing India paceman Navdeep Saini will make his Worcestershire debut.
One other switch for this week's round of fixtures will be in the Division One game at Northampton, where Kent will be captained by Jack Leaning, as Sam Billings has opted to step down as red-ball skipper , externalfor the rest of the season.
This week's Championship fixtures
Division One:
Chelmsford: Essex v Warwickshire
Southampton: Hampshire v Middlesex
Wantage Road: Northamptonshire v Kent
Taunton: Somerset v Nottinghamshire
The Oval: Surrey v Lancashire
Division Two:
Cardiff: Glamorgan v Sussex
Leicester: Leicestershire v Durham
New Road: Worcestershire v Derbyshire
Leeds: Yorkshire v Gloucestershire