Blame it on the bloody cows. Or the baking sun. What about “Bazball”?
Maybe it is just the least lively balls cricket has seen.
Whatever the reason, one thing would be wise. Don’t bet on a result other than a draw to finish what has been an intriguing Test series between England and India, with the final match beginning on Thursday night (AEST) at The Oval.
The series is alive and the pitch has looked green in the days prior to the decider but the Dukes are banged up and the bowlers’ backs are breaking as a result in what has proven a batting-dominated series full of bickering, bitching and moaning. It may yet impact the Ashes.
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While the friction between England and India has reached tinderbox ignition level after another feisty encounter at Old Trafford, it will take a significant twist for the hosts to lose the series, despite the loss of captain Ben Stokes and speedster Jofra Archer.
As much as the focus has swung on to England’s contentious grip on what constitutes the “Spirit of Cricket”, a broader issue throughout the series poses the biggest obstacle to India’s bid to win at The Oval after keeping their hopes alive in Manchester.
The famous Dukes ball has been under fire throughout the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, with both sides raising complaints about their softness and also their shape over four Tests in a series England leads 2-1.
Indian icon Virat Kohli once called for Dukes to be used in Test matches across the world given the “consistency of the ball” and their ability to ensure bowlers are always in the game.
But it is doubtful any of the current crop of Indian Test cricketers would agree amid widespread concerns of a recent deterioration in quality, even if Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja benefited from its lifelessness on Sunday.
A staggering 5,953 runs have been scored in the four Tests to date at an average of 47.62 per wicket, with the two nations having passed 300 in 12 of the 15 innings so far.
Of those 12 innings, seven scores have been posted above 400 and another beyond 500 before England’s 669 at Old Trafford, its fifth-highest Test score in history. Throughout the four Tests so far, the seamers have bowled 1105.2 overs. Back breaking? You bet.
Now they arrive at The Oval, a ground where Surrey declared at an eye-watering 9-820 in its most recent County game there against Durham at the start of July, which responded with a first innings score of 362 followed by 0-262 in the second innings.
A caveat. In a match that proved heavenly for batters, the Kookaburra ball was used. But this was a road. And given the troubles endured by the Dukes throughout the summer, India will be hoping for a miracle, particularly with Jasprit Bumrah absent as well.
The plight of the Dukes ball, which used to swing like a pendulum with bowlers including Anderson masterful with a missile that tested batters whether old or new, be it through traditional or reverse movement in the air.
But as the most recent series demonstrated, there was minimal lateral movement at Old Trafford, though the ball created less headlines than in the first three Tests with the focus initially on the record-chasing deeds of Joe Root and the farce of the final hour.
The deterioration of the famous red ball and its lack of life has sparked think pieces and investigations by the English media and forced the manufacturer to review its processes midway through the series.
Former English champion Stuart Broad noted the ball should never be the centrepiece of chatter about cricket when lamenting the amount of times they have failed this series.
“The cricket ball should be like a fine wicketkeeper. Barely noticed. We are having to talk about the ball too much because it is such an issue (and) being changed virtually every innings. Unacceptable. (It) feels like it’s been five years now. Dukes have a problem. They need to fix it. A ball should last 80 overs. Not 10,” he posted on social media.
Indian vice-captain Rishabh Pant, who broke his foot at Old Trafford and will also miss the finale, noted prior to the review of the ball that “the balls are giving so much trouble”. Just rarely to batters once they have settled into rhythm.
“Definitely, I feel it is a big problem. In this series, from what I have seen, the ball is getting de-shaped too much. That has never happened before,” he said.
“It is definitely irritating for the players. When it becomes softer, sometimes it is not doing too much. But as soon as it changes the ball, it is starting to do enough. As a batsman, you’ve got to keep adjusting to it. But at the same time, I feel it is not good for cricket.”
Not surprisingly, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar was far from backwards when digging into the issue, even accusing the English media as being as soft as the Dukes balls when covering the balls-up with the ball after one incident saw a dissimilar replacement used.
“If this would have happened in India … where if there were not enough balls similar to the ones replaced, the British media would have certainly made a big deal out of it,” he said.
After the Edgbaston Test, even a whopping 336-run whipping of the hosts was not enough to sate the displeasure India’s skipper Gill felt about the standard of the Dukes ball used in Birmingham.
“It is very difficult for the bowlers. I think more than the wicket, maybe the ball is out of shape very quickly. It gets soft very quickly,” he said.
“I don’t know what it is, whether it is the wickets or whatever. (But) it is difficult for the bowlers. It is very difficult to get a wicket in such conditions, when there is nothing there.”
Gill may not have been sure what the cause was but the owner of the company that manufacturers the Dukes ball went on the offensive initially when talking to the Mumbai Mirror.
Dilip Jajodia had plenty of theories as to why the ball — and everyone tasked with playing with it — was out of shape. “Bazball”, he said, may have been to blame.
“With bats and players as powerful as they are, they are battering the ball with such force that it hits the stands with such ferocity (that) it sometimes goes out of shape,” he said.
“Nobody talks about the flatness of the wicket or the form and skill of the bowlers. The Dukes ball is known to be bowler-friendly, and now that five or six centuries are being scored in an innings, everyone is blaming the ball.
“If anything goes wrong, it is either the ball or the pitch, never the players. When players get ducks, it is the pitch. When bowlers don’t get wickets, it is the ball.”
Take that, Bumrah and co. Apparently it is the skill of the bowlers, ahem!
Or maybe not, with Jajodia later suggesting the issue might instead rest with the quality of the cows being used and that officials should consider changing balls after 60 overs, not 80.
“No two cowhides are the same. So there is a bit of nature involved,” he reportedly said.
“The ball is not a machine-made product where every unit is identical. The ball is supposed to deteriorate. It is not a rock.
“As far as we, the manufacturers, are concerned, the ball is not being made to fail. We have not lowered our standards or changed our processes.”
It is indisputable that the weather in the infancy of the series was scorching, at least by English standards, which may have played a part in the exhausting struggle for bowlers.
By virtue of its aggressiveness, flatter decks also suit an English top order which approaches Test cricket like a T20 affair, while also negating the brilliance of Bumrah, who conceded more than 100 runs in an innings for the first time at Old Trafford.
But the character of the Dukes ball has clearly changed and, while under immense pressure after the third Test, Jajodia eventually conceded a solution to the problem was needed.
“We will take it away, inspect and then start talking to the tanner, talking about all of the raw materials, everything,” he told the BBC.
“Everything we do will be reviewed and then, if we think some changes need to be made or tightened up, we will.”
The upshot is a series in which bowlers are at breaking point heading into the final Test, which will only aid the hopes of batters in a series where centuries have become the norm.
Bumrah, who was initially slated to play only three Tests while on the comeback trail from injury, was bowled into the ground during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and will miss the decider, though it is reportedly due to a niggle as opposed to his prior problem.
Stokes was showing clear signs of wear and tear after a long series and could only manage 11 overs on Sunday after failing to bowl on the fourth day at Old Trafford. He has been ruled out as well with a shoulder injury.
Archer impressed two Tests into his comeback but, as Geoffrey Boycott wrote in The Telegraph, the prized asset bowled 89 overs while fielding for days on end. This raised an alarm for Boycott ahead of the Ashes beginning in Perth in late November.
“Every time Stokes bowls he makes something happen. It’s a gift. You are born with it, you can’t teach it. It is wonderful,” Boycott wrote.
“But if they are going to rely on him all the time, then as a bowling unit England are in trouble. He is 34 and needs to take care of himself.
“As much as he would like to bowl long spells, the coach has to tell him to manage himself more. It is better him bowling a bit less and staying fit than bowling more and getting injured.
“The same for Archer because England are in danger of making the same mistakes again. But they need to be aware that he bowled 40 overs at Lord’s and 49 overs at Old Trafford, and on top of that he fielded a lot. The legs get heavy, the body gets tired. There is a danger they will over-bowl him again.
“They want to think carefully about playing him at the Oval and remember why he got injured in New Zealand when Joe Root was captain. When you have a weapon like Jofra, you need to be cautious. Don’t expect too much too soon from him.”
Pragmatism with a view to the Ashes may have won the day for England selectors given their premier bowlers will miss this Test.
They will rely on the recalled Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue to assist the durable Chris Woakes in protecting their series lead, a task undoubtedly aided by the dead Dukes. But as for the Ashes and their prospects of a success in Australia for the first time in 15 years?
Stokes is adamant he will be fit to play, saying the shoulder injury will be right after about seven weeks on the sidelines. Archer, too, will have further time to build fitness as he seeks to become the weapon he threatened to be when felling Steve Smith at Lord’s.
But their inability to be fit enough to play in the final Test of a significant series will boost confidence in an Australian team that, while clearly unsettled at the top of the order, does boast a middle-order and wagging tail that has sapped attacks for years.
