ICC confirms WTC Final to be played with Duke; Here's how Duke Ball is different from traditional Ball types

The much-awaited final of the World Test Championship is scheduled to take place in a few days. India will face Australia in the WTC 2023 final at the Oval, which will kick off on June 7. Both teams locked horns in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India, with the hosts coming out victorious 3-1 in the series.

But the conditions in England will be totally different and will undoubtedly favor the Australian team because they used to play in swinging and seaming conditions back home. On the other hand, the Indian team reached England a week ago, but there is no warm-up match for them ahead of the WTC final.

Furthermore, the International Cricket Council (ICC) also made a big move ahead of the final and announced that the mega-clash will be played with Duke balls, which are totally different from the SG balls used in India. Thus, apart from the conditions, the Indian team will have another challenge in front of them. However, there are a lot of differences between Duke balls and other ball types, which we will check below.

Duke balls are more commonly used in England and West Indies during test matches. It is manufactured by British Cricket Balls Ltd., which was established in 1760. These balls are hand-stitched, which helps them stay longer. The backward stitching helps the ball stay harder as compared to other balls, which helps the ball to seam for a long period of time. The conditions in England are suited for swing and seam bowling because of the overcast weather and pitch conditions. All these factors help Duke ball swing more and keep the bowler in the game. It also swings more in the air and off the pitch as well.

Manufactured by Kookabura Sport, an Australian company, the Kookabura balls are used in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe. Unlike Duke and SG, Kookabura balls are machine-stitched cricket balls. The inner two threats are hand-stitched, while the outer two are stitched by machine, which helps the bowler grip the ball better. As a result, it doesn't swing as much as Duke. But Kookabura is perfect for bouncy conditions, such as in Australia and South Africa. Though it can lose shape faster but once it stops swinging, bowlers can use this ball to hit the deck and get a bounce to trouble the batters.

Sanspareil Greenlands (SG) is a company based in Meerut, India, that was established in 1931. The SG balls are used mainly in India during test matches and Ranji cricket. It is also hand-stitched and tends to stay in shape for a longer period of time. SG balls tend to stay better for a longer time on pitches that are expected to break, and the spinners come into play. After the initial shine on these ball is gone, bowlers start shining it from on side. The two sides of the ball help the ball swing more from the shiner side.