It's cuckoo to use the Kookaburra says Yorkshire CCC boss Anthony McGrath

The ECB introduced the Kookaburra - the machine-stitched Australian ball - in 2023 in an effort to counter the threat of medium-pacers and encourage faster bowlers and spinners with the skills required to play Test cricket.

However, McGrath has criticised the rationale behind the ball’s use, with the Kookaburra in operation for four midsummer rounds that continue, for Yorkshire, with next week’s match against Essex at York, followed by the double-header against Surrey and Sussex at Scarborough.

“We want to try and help English cricket, but I’m still not sure why we’re using this ball,” said McGrath, with the Kookaburra replacing the usual English Dukes.

“If you’re going to use it, then just for the integrity of the competition, use it for the full year and make your England players available as much as possible; otherwise, I don’t understand why we’re doing it.

“If the role of the Kookaburra is to make us a better Test team, or to bring more pace bowlers or spinners into it, then more thought needs to be given as to when it’s being used and why.

“If, for example, you’re wanting people to bowl 90mph on the back of seven first-class games in quick succession, and then eight T20s, and you play (as Yorkshire did at Trent Bridge) a day after you finish at Durham in a T20 at half-ten at night, then that’s nonsensical. It just doesn’t work.

“If, on the other hand, you’re saying that in two years’ time we’re going to use the Kookaburra ball and we’re going to play 10 games and we’re going to have a week-and-a-half between each game and we’re going to have everyone fresh, then you could probably, say, ‘yeah, I get that.’

“But the way that we're shoehorning it into the system and the schedule - and then you think of the spectators who were here (at Trent Bridge) – just doesn’t make sense.

“It’s not great watching, and it’s not really a fair contest either. The ball goes soft, it’s difficult to score and rotate the strike, so there’s not many things favouring it.”

McGrath was pleased with Yorkshire’s efforts but said that the likeliest outcome was always a draw.

“I think given the surface and the ball, I don't think there was much chance of a result here,” he said. “It was pretty attritional cricket and not a great watch.

“It’s the wicket we played the T20 on (earlier this month), so we knew it was going to be slow, and with it being a hybrid pitch too, they normally just get flatter and flatter.

“We expected it to turn a bit more, but it didn’t really do that and stayed really hard throughout, but it was important for our batters to put in a good performance, to get some confidence back, and also to put some points on the board.”