The balls used in the initial four years of the competition had a large ‘H’ logo imprinted on them.
The England Cricket Board (ECB) has decided to discontinue the debatable Kookaburra balls in The Hundred, which were deemed a reason for low scores. The balls used in the initial four years of the competition had a large ‘H’ logo imprinted on them, which batters felt required more lacquer.
AUSA-W
–
INDA-W
–
NDT
172/6
EDR
174/3
East Delhi Riders beat New Delhi Tigers by 7 wickets
NDS
163/7
ODW
144/9
North Delhi Strikers beat Outer Delhi Warriors by 19 runs
PD
–
WDL
–
CDK
–
SDS
–
CRO
–
CYP
–
CRO
–
CYP
–
WIM
128/7
LCC
127/7
Wimbledon beat London County Cricket by 3 wickets
KSP
98/7
LCC
139/10
London County Cricket beat Kreative Sports XI by 41 runs
WIM
155/6
CPP
120/6
Wimbledon beat CFS Pinnacle Pro by 35 runs
CPP
162/5
KSP
164/4
Kreative Sports XI beat CFS Pinnacle Pro by 2 runs
WIM
150/3
KSP
171/6
Kreative Sports XI beat Wimbledon by 21 runs
ESM
–
LCC
–
KSP
–
SPE
–
BAN
–
CPP
–
WIM
–
WEY
–
MID
289/7
SOM
293/4
Somerset beat Middlesex by 6 wickets
SURR
174/10
LEI
179/4
Leicestershire beat Surrey by 6 wickets
SUSS
–
KENT
–
GLAM
–
DER
–
NOT
–
WOR
–
HAM
–
ESS
–
SWE
–
FRA
–
GTC
65/9
GUG
69/1
Guwahati Giants beat Gauhati Town Club by 9 wickets
BCC
98/10
CCC
105/10
City Cricket Club beat Bud Cricket Club by 7 runs
91YC
–
NVR
–
NAJC
–
GTC
–
KUMS
83/1
CEC-A
82/10
Kuwait Swedish beat CECC by 9 wickets
PCR
106/7
BNC
103/5
Phoenix Cricketers beat Bader & Nie Cricket Club by 3 runs
BCC
–
GUJCC
–
KRMPS
–
KZK
–
SEL
211/2
MEL
85/10
Selangor beat Melaka by 126 runs
JOR
128/4
PHG
127/8
Johor beat Pahang by 6 wickets
PRK
198/7
PENG
98/8
Perak beat Penang by 100 runs
KLPR
245/2
PUT
56/5
Kuala Lumpur beat Putrajaya by 76 runs (D/L) method
HTW
163/5
MDW
128/8
Hubli Tigers Women beat Mangalore Dragons Women by 35 runs
SHLW
113/7
MWW
140/6
Mysore Warriors Women beat Shivamogga Lioness Women by 27 runs
BBW
–
HTW
–
MWW
–
MDW
–
ZIM
–
NZ
–
IRE-W
142/10
PAK-W
131/9
Ireland Women beat Pakistan Women by 11 runs
SLBL
–
SLGR
–
MAO
131/4
SOB
133/9
Southern Brave won by 1 wicket
NOS
–
WEF
–
MOW-W
95/8
SBW-W
96/4
Southern Brave Women beat Manchester Originals Women by 6 wickets
NOS-W
–
WFW-W
–
AUST
–
NOR
–
SWE
–
FRA
–
Players felt the ball was moving excessively, especially when new, which meant the teams couldn’t utilise the field restrictions in the powerplay. For instance, Moeen Ali pointed out a relatively bigger seam on the batch of balls used last season, citing it was one of the reasons why the ball nipped around more often.
Kookaburra claimed the balls were made with the same specifications as other balls of the brand, with the logo being the only difference. According to ESPNcricinfo, the ECB conducted an extensive study to understand whether there were any excessive changes in this special batch of balls, but found minimal evidence about a difference in behaviour compared to other white balls used in England and Wales.
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Still, the ECB has decided not to use these balls and opted for the ones used in the T20 Blast 2025, which are the usual Kookaburra balls used everywhere. They hope it will increase the scoring rate, and games will become more high-scoring than they have historically been.
Maybe the balls with an ‘H’ logo have favoured bowlers more than usual, but they are not the only reason why scoring rates have consistently been low. There are other factors, like the pitch, weather conditions, and the tournament’s format, which can often favour bowlers.
The Hundred is often played in late summer when the pitches are mostly tired due to the County Championship and other white-ball competitions in the 50-over and T20 format. Then, the weather and evening matches naturally generate more movement in the air, making the powerplay bowlers more potent.
The format allows a bowler to bowl ten consecutive deliveries, and teams often frontload their powerplay specialists by giving them 15 out of the first 20 balls during the field restrictions. Oval Invincibles employed this tactic last night by providing an extended spell to Jason Behrendorff, who picked up two wickets inside the powerplay.
The batch of balls in the T20 Blast 2025 was used in the opening fixture of The Hundred 2025 at Lord’s, but the game was still low-scoring, as the London Spirit failed to get going and couldn’t even last 100 deliveries. So, the balls can’t be completely blamed; several other factors have contributed to batters’ issues in this tournament.
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