The ball, or the 'cherry' as it is sometimes referred to, is the primary weapon that the bowling side has at its disposal. Traditionally, the ball is red in colour, although the law by itself does not make any such specification. Many people have explained that the red colour helps even a colour-blind person spot it in broad daylight with the sight-screen in the back ground.
 

The red ball is used in Tests, and the white ball in one-day internationals, irrespective of whether it is a day game or a day-night game. This has been necessitated by the fact that all one-day internationals today are played in coloured clothing. There are different colours for each team, and the umpires wear black. Even the sightscreens are black.

In the old days, a team could claim a new ball if 200 runs were scored off the old one. However, this rule was abandoned when it was discovered that many fielding sides would 'gift' byes, so that they could claim the new ball. Under the new regulation, the bowling team can claim the new ball in Test and first-class cricket after 80 overs have been bowled.

The white ball is generally replaced around the 40th over as it tends to get soft and dirty, and as a result, batsmen start finding it difficult to sight it, especially at night. When coloured-clothing and night cricket was a relatively new phenomenon, two white balls were used i.e. one from each end. After an over was completed, the umpire standing at that end would keep the ball until the next over from his end. Thus, one ball was used for only 25 overs, or 50% of the scheduled overs, and very rarely was a replacement needed. This practice was followed during the 1992 World Cup. I remember being asked by New Zealand's coach Warren Lees the end at which I was supposed to stand, before a match. Lees asked my colleague the same question. He then went through the box of new balls and took out two balls, one of which had a slightly pronounced seam. It turned out that the umpire who was stand at the end from which Dipak Patel, the off-spinner was going to open the bowling, was to be given the ball with the pronounced seam. The idea was to help the slow bowler grip it better. Remember New Zealand's radical strategy of opening the bowling with a spin bowler that created such a sensation?

The criteria governing the size and weight of the ball are applicable when the ball is new. Naturally, after wear and tear, they do not remain the same, depending upon how the batsmen have 'treated' it! When it loses its shape, the seam gives away or the ball gets lost, the umpires replace it with one of similar 'texture' (wear and tear). The stipulations on the size and weight kept changing in the early years, but they have remained constant for the last 72 years.

In the early 90s, the authorities in England experimented with reducing the size of the seam. However, this made swing and seam bowlers less effective, and the deluge of runs that ensued left them with no option but to revert to the original size.

Presently, the SG Test brand (made in India) of balls is in vogue for all international and first-class matches in India. The SG balls have been found to be as good as the Dukes, Reader or Kookabura brands used elsewhere in the world. The replacement balls are also of the same brand and the fourth umpire, when called upon, rushes onto the ground with the stock.

Sometimes the fielding side squeals about the condition of the ball when they are unable to take wickets, hoping that the umpires will call for a replacement and it might give them a breakthrough. But the umpires can 'smell the rat' when there is no reasonable justification for changing the ball. At times the shape goes a bit awry if it is subjected to a heavy pounding from the batsmen. Heavier bats are also responsible for 'deshaping' the ball. I remember an incident that took place during a three-day game between the English tourists of 1976-77 and Mumbai at Indore. The Mumbai players kept complaining about the shape of the ball in the second innings, and we decided to replace it after examining it closely. The non-striker at that time was Bob Woolmer, presently Pakistan coach. He asked me, "Why did they complain about the ball when it was swinging so nicely?"

Of course, the umpires notify the batsmen and the fielding side when the cherry is replaced and both sides may ask to have a look at it, but comments or arguments from the players are not entertained. The batsmen, after seeing and 'feeling' it, can judge the hardness or the seam and accordingly work out their strategy. Once in a Test match, Javed Miandad wanted to see the ball but the umpires refused. The cunning old fox that Javed is, he did not react. He was the non-striker then. As the next ball was defensively played back to the bowler, he requested Ravi Shastri, the bowler, to throw him the ball. Ravi obliged and Javed passed it back to him after 'examining' it. The poor umpire cut a sorry figure!

In an "A" division match of the Kanga League, the ball was temporarily lost in the thick grass near short mid- wicket. After a frantic search, it was found. The next ball was banged to the square-leg boundary and so was the next. When the ball was returned to the wicketkeeper Anil Joshi, he ran to me at the bowler's end and told me that it was not the ball with which we were playing. I agreed when I saw the ball, and another frantic search followed. The bowler was yelled at by his teammates. They wanted to know how he could not distinguish between the ball they were using and the 'replacement', which was an old, discarded practice ball with its seam split open!

A new ball is used at the start of each innings, unless the captain of the batting side permits otherwise. This may happen in a situation wherein the batting team needs only a handful of runs to win the match. However, in the Sydney Test of the 1978-79 Ashes series, the Aussie skipper Graham Yallop started with an old ball without the permission of his counterpart Mike Brearley. England needed only 36 to win. Brearley objected, but the umpires overruled him. England won comfortably by eight wickets, but Brearley was certainly justified in his protest.

- By Piloo Reporter