New Zealand Cricket (NZC) will trial using just one ball per innings for the first five rounds of the 2026-27 men's one-day Ford Trophy, which gets underway on October 28.
According to the current playing conditions, two new balls are used from the start of a 50-over innings until the end of the 34th over. After the 34th over, the bowling team chooses one of the two balls, which they use at both ends from overs 35 to 50.
However, in a bid to give bowlers more opportunities to extract reverse swing at the death, NZC will trial using a single ball for all 50 overs. With the regular Ford Trophy season split into two distinct blocks - the first five rounds running until November, followed by the remaining five rounds and finals in February next year - NZC will review the trial after the opening five rounds to decide whether to continue with the approach or revert to two balls per innings for the second half of the season.
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"I think it adds a really interesting dynamic to the game and to the format, so I quite like the idea of trialling the single ball and bringing back the art of getting the ball to reverse swing," Central Stags' Will Young said.
"With the ball doing a bit more at the back end of the innings, it will challenge the batters to figure out different ways to generate a strike rate.
"It'll be interesting to see if it leads to a different style of playing or, for instance, a different approach to the power play."
The one-ball rule was last used in international cricket back in 2011, before the ICC moved to two new balls per innings, a rule which was later revised.
"It reminds me of when you stumble across old international highlights, and watch the death bowling and you can see that the ball's a bit softer and reverse-swinging - and it's really difficult for the batter to score at more than a run-a-ball in those last 10-15 overs," Young said.
Round 1 of the Ford Trophy kicks off with Auckland Aces taking on Canterbury in Auckland, while Stags will clash with Northern Districts in Nelson. Due to flight cancellations, the Wellington Firebirds vs Otago Volts clash scheduled for October 28 will now be played on October 29. The players will also get to test their game under the revised playing conditions with an eye on the 2027 ODI World Cup late next year.