The game of cricket is believed to have originated in rural England sometime in the 16th or 17th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The earliest versions of cricket balls had no standard size, weight or stitching: they were handmade by locals and consisted of a round leather case filled with materials such as cork or wool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As there were no set requirements or construction methods, each ball was different, and this affected how it bounced, moved and rebounded off the bat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, cricket spiked in popularity in the first half of the 18th century, which prompted consistency in the rules and equipment to ensure fairness and facilitate further growth of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Modern balls consist of four main components: a cork and twine (string) core, a leather casing, a raised middle section (the seam) with stitching on either side and a wax or lacquer coating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Balls are either red (for long formats such as international Test matches), white (for shorter formats such as One Day Internationals or Twenty20 games) or pink (for day-night Tests and first-class games).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The laws of cricket state that when new, the ball should weigh between 5.5 and 5.75 ounces (155.9\u2013163 grams) and have a circumference of 22.4\u201322.9 centimetres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For women\u2019s cricket, the ball can weight slightly less (140\u2013151g) and for junior cricket (under 13) even less again (133\u2013144g).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A set of technical standards was formalised in 1994 which stipulate the mechanical requirements for factors such as hardness, to help different manufacturers produce balls with more consistency and ensure fairness across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n