W.G. Grace and Don Bradman may be spinning in their graves at the news an English cricket club have switched to using a vegan ball from the traditional leather one.
Earley Cricket Club in Reading, 64 kilometres west of London, had introduced a vegan tea for their players. That was down to their founder and chairman Gary Shacklady, who found most cricket club teas consisted of ham sandwiches, not much use to him when he became a vegan.
Now the club has gone the full hog and introduced a vegan cricket ball — a synthetic animal products-free one covered in rubber instead of leather.
“It does behave like a leather cricket ball, but it bounces more and it’s more difficult to grip,” Shacklady told the Daily Mail . “But we’re enthused by it and we’re hopeful of finding a better version.”
