This post could just as easily have been about David Masters or even Tim Murtagh or Tim Linley, but given the confirmation last week of its untimely demise we'll instead declare the Tiflex cricket ball - something each of the aforementioned three owe some of their success to - a County Cricket hero of 2011.
Cricket was hitherto an equal battle between bat and ball, but that notion has been increasingly eroded as pitches, packed fixture lists and yes, even cricket balls have been heavily weighted towards the batsmen.
The Tiflex cricket ball (perhaps inadvertently) had helped to redress this since it was introduced to Division 2 of the County Championship in 2009. For three seasons now batsmen haven't had it all their own way and a good thing to.
But batsmen do like a good grumble and boy how they have moaned and whined about the Tiflex.
You see the Tiflex seemed to swing and seam excessively early in an innings - certainly compared to the Dukes ball that has been used in Division 1.
Whilst most of us would be tempted to say diddums and have little or no sympathy for their predicament, the ECB has relented and from next season Dukes balls will be used in both divisions.
This is a shame because one could strongly argue that the Tiflex ball provides a better test of a batsman's technique and perhaps therefore prepares them for facing the better standard of bowler they would encounter should they ever play international cricket. James Taylor for instance may reap the dividends of his three seasons combating the Tiflex if and when he makes his Test debut.
For Masters, Murtagh, Linley and other bowlers of their ilk who put the ball in the right place and wobble it about a bit at around 80 miles per hour, the death of the Tiflex is tantamount to a disaster. Masters took 93 wickets in Division 2 this season at a rather impressive 18.13. One would guess that the odds of him improving on this just got a whole lot longer.
We'll leave the final word to Rob Key who on hearing the news of the Tiflex's demise sent a joyous Tweet to some of his fellow batsmen:
Where next?
County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Marcus Trescothick
County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Rory Hamilton-Brown
County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Michael Carberry
County Championship XI of the season
County Championship Division 1 XI of the season
County Championship Division 2 XI of the season
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The Tiflex is made by not just the leading but the only cricket ball technologists in the world.It was carefully designed to redress the balance between bat and ball. It gave the swing bowlers help early on. Around the 40 over mark it softened along the seam. But, and crucially so, it remained hard in any other axis. Spinners, who actually spun the ball, rather than used its seam to give turn off the wicket could prosper. Often better by bowling scrambled seam spinners to take advantage of the harder non seam axis of the ball to give extra bounce and 'life'. Tiflex of- course can make the ball do whatever they design it to do.The reason the ball remained unchanged for three seasons was because the Flat Track Bully lobby of which Mark Ramprakrash, Ravi Bopara and Rob Key are famous members (they even managed to get into the Test side, where of course they were/ are being found out) wasn't so well co-ordinated.
Most people can bat well against a ball that goes straight. Why don't Rob key & co take up golf. There the ball remains still,just waiting to be stylishly hit. Let spaces in the County XI be vacated for batsmen who want to learn skilled batting.
Posted by: John Smith | Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 06:22
there's a lot of merit in this argument, I think.
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