The Kookaburra cricket ball has been a constant in Australian cricket since 1890, but that could be about to change in the wake of the 2015 Investec Ashes.
England’s sealing of the series at Trent Bridge with one Test to go means Australia have failed to claim the urn on UK shores since 2001.
Ricky Ponting believes the English’s choice of ball, Dukes, and Australia’s inability to bat against it has been influential in that miserable record.
The 40-year-old, who captained the Aussies during their unsuccessful tours of 2005 and 2009, has called for the Dukes ball - which is renowned for offering more swing - to be introduced to Sheffield Shield cricket.
And recent comments from Cricket Australia General Manager Pat Howard suggest that the governing body are listening to their outspoken former captain and could introduce balls from the Walthamstow based company as soon as 2017.
“It’s something that we’ve thought about and will be discussing with the High Performance Managers in each state,” said Howard.
“We may give consideration to using a Dukes ball in Shield competition in the two seasons leading up to the next Ashes series in the UK.
“That could involve using a Kookaburra ball for the first half of the season and a Dukes ball for remainder of the year.
"I need to be reviewed and I have absolutely no problem with that.
"Clearly I have got to take leadership over this. We lost and someone is accountable and ultimately I am accountable. The first person I want people looking for is me rather than anyone else."
As well as suggesting a change of ball, Ponting also believes pitches that are more conducive to seam and swing bowling should be aired in the domestic competition down under.
“I think it's been highlighted enough times that we struggle when the ball swings and seams,” said Ponting.
“You go back two, three years ago when I was playing Shield cricket, Hobart got heavily criticised for doing too much but I batted there, you could still make runs.
"Ed Cowan was making runs almost every time he batted on that wicket. You just have to change your game and work out how you're going to get runs in those conditions.
“The Gabba's been the same for as long as I can remember in Shield cricket and that's why Matthew Hayden and now Usman Khawaja, who's opening the batting up there, someone like Joe Burns bats up there as well as a top-order batsman.
"Their techniques will stand up in these conditions because they're used to playing in these conditions.
“It just looks like this generation of Australian players just haven't got the technique to survive the best quality bowling in difficult conditions."
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