How to Age a Cricket Ball Without Even Playing

The sport of cricket involves bowling a ball toward a batsman. Cricket balls start out smooth and highly polished, but get scratched many times over the course of the hours teams play cricket games. Scratches make the ball spin more when bowled; some bowlers doctor their balls to improve or reduce the spin.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Cricket ball
• Pins or needles
• Fabric
• Sandpaper

1. Inspect the cricket ball for places where it has received wear naturally. These are the best places to age the ball further because they will be harder to detect.

2. Remove any polish or shine on the ball by carefully scratching the surface with a pin or needle to simulate the wear and tear in a cricket match.

3. Decide which of the two sides of the ball will be the more polished side than the other if your goal is to age the ball to increase its spin.

4. Rub one side on fabric until some of the dye, if the ball is dyed the traditional red, comes off. (In a night match, the ball is white; this color is now used for day games as well.)

5. Sand the other side with sandpaper lightly to scuff it. Work from existing scratches to enlarge them in as natural a fashion as possible.

6. Fray the seam by carefully plucking it with a pin or needle so that the wear looks natural.

Tips & Warnings

• Bowl the ball with the polished side toward the batsman if you want the ball to swing in the direction the seam is oriented (normal swing) or with the roughened side forward if you want the ball to swing in the opposite direction (reverse swing).
• Substances that have been used to enhance the polish of the polished side include hair gel, sugar and lip balm. Another substance that could be used is nasal mucus; baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry used to eat jalapeno peppers to generate enough mucus to doctor his baseballs.
• Don't apply mud with the intent of using its removal to disguise scratching up the ball. Under the laws of cricket, mud must be removed under supervision.

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