In Modern day cricket, test cricket is played with red balls and other forms of cricket are played with white balls. In earlier days both test and one day cricket were played with traditional red balls. With day and night one day matches coming into existence, red balls became a problem under flood lights and so white balls were brought in to lime light. Cricket balls are dangerous which even caused death to some players and are hard enough to cause serious injuries.

Cricket balls are made out of leather, cork and yarn. Cork is tightly wrapped with yarn and made into a sphere. This sphere gives the required magnitude and weight to the ball. Leather is cut into circle and is put into machine and made into hemispheres.  The ends of the hemispheres are given stiches before inserting the cork. Once the hemispheres are ready, cork is put into the two hemispheres and joined and stitched together. Even today most of the tasks involved in ball making are done with hand. After the ball is finished, It is made spherical enough with the help of machines and polished.

Hemispheres made out of leather

Leather used to make cricket balls

Making the cork

Cork betweeen two hemispheres

Making the ball spherical and polishing

Stitching the two hemispheres after joining

Finished balls

Cricket balls need to follow some measurements in order to make it usable for international cricket. There are ICC regulations for weight and measurements of a ball. An usual cricket ball should weigh between 155 to 163 grams and circumference should be 224 to 299 millimeters.

Kookubura, SG , Dukes are the leading cricket ball manufacturers . Based on the country which is hosting which is hosting the match ball brands are chosen with the approval of the national cricket board.  Matches hosted by India are played with ball manufactured by SG.

BCCI approved SG balls

United Kingdom leads the cricket goods industry. The most established bat brands are from England. The major reason for this is, cricket bat is made of willow and willow is widely available here. English willow gives more quality than that of Kashmiri willow.  Here are some of the most widely used bat brands in the international cricket arena.

Slazenger is a British brand which manufactures sports goods. It is one of the oldest surviving sports goods manufacturers in the world. Great players used Slazenger bats in their career. Various named bats are available in markets from Slazenger. Players like Kallis, Collingwood and Michel Clarke use Slazenger bats.

Slazenger bats

Gunn & More widely called as GM bats are mostly widely used bat brands in the world. This is a British sports goods manufacturer.  Many England, Australian, Kiwi and South African players used and using GM bats. There is a very long list of cricketers who uses this brand in present cricket.

Shane Watson using GM bats

GM bats

Gray Nicolls is yet another British brand which is extensively used by West Indies, Australian and New Zealand players. These are stylish cricket bats whose labels give a royal look.

Chandrapaul with Gray Nicolls bat

Gray Nicolls bats

Kookaburra is bat brand which is used by few players in the world cricket, yet it is one of the famous brands. Legendary cricketer Ricky Ponting uses Kookaburra bats and Sanath Jayasuriya also used Kookaburra bats.

Ricky Ponting using Kookaburra bats

But the sub-continent cricketers use different brand bats which are based mainly in India and Pakistani cricketers use few Pakistani brands.

SG, SS, BAS Vampire and BDM are the famous brands in India. Indian players majorly use SG and SS brands. There are very few Indian players who use the above British brands.  Indian brand bats are also made with English willow. Some Indian players like Yuvraj, Sehwag use bats made of Kashmiri willow also.

Sachin using SS bat though front label shows Adidas

Raina uses SG bat

CA cricket bats, MB ( Malik bats) are the few Pakistani brands used by Pakistani cricketers.

Afridi using Malik bat

The labels like Puma, Adidas, Reebok, MRF and Hero Honda which we see on the bats or not the actual manufacturers, they are just sponsors of the kit to the players.

English Willow tree

We all know that cricket bats are made up of willow wood. Willow trees generally grow in cold climate and hence willow tree will be found in only few parts of the world. United Kingdom, India and Australia continue to be leading bat manufacturers. Different kinds of willow species are found throughout the world and hence the quality of wood varies with species, obviously quality of bat varies with the willow being used.

Kashmiri willows

World famous cricket bat brands are Gunn & Moore (GM), Kookaburra, Gray Nicolls, Slazengar, Salix etc. World famous cricket players have endorsement with these brands. On the whole, England dominates the bat market with majority of cricketers using these British made bats.  Many districts in Kashmir valley of India make their living on bat making however these Kashmiri willows are fighting hard to survive in the international market, As English willows are preferred more than Kashmiri willows.

A crafts man making bats in England

There is misconception in people throughout the world that the brand sticker which they view on the bat is the manufacturer of the bat. But the thing is famous brands purchase bats and markets it.  For example, for years together Sachin Tendulkar was using the bat stickered MRF logo, but the actual manufacturer of the bat is different.

The making of a cricket bat starts with pressing the well cut willow wooden bars by applying heavy pressure so that the playing end form a smooth blade good enough to hit the cricket ball. Once this is done a V-cut is made in one end of the bat so as to make room for the handle to be inserted. Later, handles are inserted in the V-cut and well-fixed with the help of glue. Later using the usual carpentry tools the edges and handle is processed to bring a standard shape. Once everything is finished the handle is gripped and sent for pasting stickers.

Handle

V- Cut Made to insert handle

Attached handled

The cost of the bat is decided on the type of the willow used and how much work went in to it.  Costly willows will generally well undergo neat process to make bats of world standards. Bat manufacturers need to be always conscious about the ever revised ICC rules to be fit in the Industry. 

Well finished bat

Cheapest cricket bats can be found in India, because people in India play cricket everywhere like schools, streets, beaches and so on. Since no standard bats are needed for this purpose, Bat manufacturers in India make bats of various standards to fit the people need.

There are no restrictions or rules for weight of a cricket bat. But the height and width of a cricket bat is restricted by the ICC and blade of the bat should be of only wood ( Aluminium blades are banned by ICC). The height of the bat should not go beyond 38 inches and width should not go beyond 4.25 Inches.

Stickered finished bat

It is the main cricket ground in Zimbabwe to host international cricket. This ground has hosted many tests as well as one day international matches. It also hosted few matches in ICC 2003 world cup. Harare ground has a spectator capacity of 10000. Its hard to find even 10000 members attending a cricket match in this ground.

Spectators watching match in Harare sports club

Teams Practicing in Harare sports club

Full aerial view of Harare cricket ground

Very ordinary stands which is not upto ICC standards

Aerial view of one day match in Harare ground

Bulawayo  is the only other city in Zimbabwe which hosts cricket apart from the capital city Harare. It has hosted few matches in ICC world cup 2003. This ground has hosted few one day internationals and test matches. Due to poor management of Zimbabwe cricket association, this stadium suffers lack of facilities. Its seating capacity is around 12000.  Almost all test cricket playing nations who toured Zimbabwe has played in Bulawayo.

Zimbabwe players celebrating during a test match in Bulawayo sports club

You  can view audience gallery under renovation

Bulawayo sports club

Bulawayo sports club full aerial view

It is the only cricket ground in Kenya which hosted and hosts international cricket. This ground also hosted few matches in the 2003 ICC cricket world cup. Due to less sponsors and management issues, this stadium has poor infrastructure and stays way far from ICC standards. It has seating capacity of only 7000 and crowd attendance for the cricket matches here is very less. One of the most important and successful event this stadium hosted so far is the 2000 ICC champion trophy won by New Zealand . 

Teams Practicing in Nairobi Gymkhana club 

Nairobi Gymkhana Stands

Students view match in Nairobi Gymkhana

Full view of Nairobi Gymkhana ground

Kenya and UAE captains in Nairobi Gymkhana

It is one of the three prominent cricket stadiums in UAE along with Sharjah stadium and Dubai sports city. It has hosted few International ODI matches and twenty twenties. It has a seating capacity about 19000-20000. It many times served as an alternative venue to Pakistan venues because of issues in Pakistan.

Abu Dhabi stadium under flood light

England cricket team practicing in Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Pakistan India match in Abu Dhabi Stadiun

Beautiful view from the gallery

It is one of the best stadiums in the world known for its infrastructure. This stadium is in Dubai of UAE which hosts ODI frequently. The stadium has all possibilities to become one of the important hosts in world cricket in near future. This stadium has a spectator capacity of 25000-30000. Unlike other stadiums in the world, this stadium has a unique flood light facility which focus light from every point of the roof. This flood light system is named as "Ring of fire".

Ring of fire, Dubai stadium night view

Aerial view of Dubai stadium

Complete inner view of the stadium

Fully packed Dubai stadium

Dubai stadium from outside

Day and night match in Dubai cricket stadium