What is the colour of a cricket ball?

What is the colour of a cricket ball?

Cricket balls are traditionally dyed red, and red balls are used in Test cricket and First-class cricket. White balls were introduced when one-day matches began being played at night under floodlights, as they are more visible at night. Many one-day matches are now played with white balls. Other colours have occasionally been experimented with, such as yellow and orange for improved night visibility, but the colouring process has so far rendered such balls unsuitable for professional play, because they wear differently to standard balls.


The white ball has been found to swing a lot more during the first half of the innings than the red ball. It also deteriorates faster than the red ball.


A cricket ball is sometimes referred to as a ‘cherry’ because of its bright red colour. This word is also used to describe the red spots or marks that appear on cricket bats after a wet cricket ball has hit it