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A trial of using Kookaburra cricket balls in some County Championship rounds has been cancelled.
Kookaburras have been used on some tours in each of the last three seasons, but the move has not been very popular due to the tendency of the bat to dominate the ball.
Cricket managers from 18 first-class counties have expressed their desire to end the experiment in October.
The decision was confirmed at a meeting of the Professional Games Committee of the England and Wales Cricket Board (PGC) earlier this week.
This means that all 14 rounds of the 2026 county championship season will be played with balls manufactured by the Dukes.
The Dukes are the traditional supplier of cricket balls for first-class cricket played in England. Dukes balls are hand-stitched and, in general, offer more assistance to bowlers.
Kookaburra balls are machine-made and mainly used in countries such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Kookaburra ball was introduced into the County Championship with the idea of preparing English players for outdoor conditions. The theory was that this would encourage higher pace bowlers and lead to enhanced spin.
It was used for two rounds of matches in 2023, and was expanded to four rounds for 2024 and 2025.
Although some of the objectives of the experiment were achieved – particularly a higher number of overs by spinners – it resulted in some lackluster cricket.
In two rounds of Kookaburra matches earlier this summer, played in June, the average first-innings total across the tournament was 430. There were 59 individual scores of 100 or more and Surrey made 820-9 against Durham at The Oval.
The move to return to the Dukes for the full championship season comes after the counties rejected proposals to restructure the competition.
The new line-up of 12 teams in the top flight and six in the lower division, with each team playing 13 matches, was rejected in favor of the current system.
The tournament will remain with 10 teams in Division One, and eight in Division Two, all playing 14 matches.
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