---
title: "What is a Cricket ball made of?"
description: "A cork core tightly wound with wool yarn, cased in four pieces of dyed leather with a stitched seam. Every component, the material it uses, and the constraint that m"
url: https://atoneplace.net/made-of/cricket-ball/
site: "At One Place"
---

# What is a Cricket ball made of?

**What is a Cricket ball made of?: A cork core tightly wound with wool yarn, cased in four pieces of dyed leather with a stitched seam.**

A cricket ball is one of the few pieces of sports equipment designed to change during use, and the rules police how. As one side is polished and the other roughens, the airflow separates at different points on each side and the ball swings; once the surface is worn all over, it can reverse swing at high pace. Because this is worth wickets, the laws allow polishing with sweat and permit no artificial substance, and altering the surface deliberately has produced several of the sport's biggest scandals. The pink ball exists because red is invisible under floodlights and white scuffs too fast for a five-day match.

## Component by component

*Every material is a choice, and the third column is the constraint that drove it.*

| Part | Material | Why that material |
| --- | --- | --- |
| core | compressed cork, sometimes layered with rubber | Cork is light and springy enough to survive repeated impact at 140 km/h without shattering or going dead. |
| winding | tightly wound wool and cotton yarn under tension | The winding sets the hardness and the mass distribution; a tightly wound ball keeps its shape and stays hard for longer. |
| case | four quarters of alum- or chrome-tanned leather, dyed red, white or pink | Leather can be polished on one side and left rough on the other, which is the whole basis of swing bowling. |
| seam | six rows of hand stitching in linen or polyester thread | The proud seam is an aerodynamic trip strip: it separates the airflow asymmetrically and makes the ball deviate in flight. |

## Other sport and games objects

- [Tennis ball](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/tennis-ball/) — A pressurised hollow shell of vulcanised rubber, covered in a glued-on wool and nylon felt.
- [Golf ball](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/golf-ball/) — A moulded polybutadiene rubber core inside an ionomer or urethane cover, dimpled all over.
- [Soccer ball](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/soccer-ball/) — Polyurethane outer panels over a laminated fabric backing, wrapped around a latex or butyl bladder.
- [Basketball](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/basketball/) — A pebbled composite or leather cover over nylon winding and a butyl rubber bladder.
- [Bowling ball](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/bowling-ball/) — A dense shaped weight block inside a filler, wrapped in a polyester, urethane or reactive resin coverstock.

## Common questions

### What is a Cricket ball made of?

A cork core tightly wound with wool yarn, cased in four pieces of dyed leather with a stitched seam.

### What is the core of a Cricket ball made of?

Compressed cork, sometimes layered with rubber. Cork is light and springy enough to survive repeated impact at 140 km/h without shattering or going dead.

### What is the winding of a Cricket ball made of?

Tightly wound wool and cotton yarn under tension. The winding sets the hardness and the mass distribution; a tightly wound ball keeps its shape and stays hard for longer.

## Related pages

- [Tennis ball](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/tennis-ball/)
- [Golf ball](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/golf-ball/)
- [Soccer ball](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/soccer-ball/)
- [Basketball](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/basketball/)
- [Bowling ball](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/bowling-ball/)
- [Pencil](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/pencil/)
- [Banknote](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/banknote/)
- [Paper](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/paper/)
- [Glass](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/glass/)
- [Ballpoint pen](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/ballpoint-pen/)
- [Marshmallow](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/marshmallow/)

## Sources

- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place (/about/)