Dukes manufacturer faces ‘major crisis’ causing shortage of cricket balls amid ongoing Gulf War

The United Kingdom has been at the receiving end of scarcity of cricket balls in the country ahead of the upcoming English summer, when a lot of cricket will be played using the Dukes balls. The manufacturer of Dukes balls, Dilip Jajodia, has said that the rates to transport leather from the subcontinent to the UK via the Gulf route have become challenging due to a shortfall of flights, while the freight charges have also tripled.

As the English summer is on the beckoning, the British Cricket Balls Ltd’s owner, Jajodia, has said that they are in talks with a plethora of county clubs in England, asking them to provide only half of the quantity promised due to ongoing logistical challenges. Even as the rates have gone up, the airway carriers are not accepting any orders due to a logjam, he says.

“We’ve got a major crisis right now with this bloody Gulf War nonsense. We’ve got to ration clubs by giving them 50 per cent of their balls at the start of the season and then manage the problem. We’ve got plenty of stuff in the factories in the subcontinent ready to go, but the airlines are not taking the freight because there’s a logjam,” Jajodia told the Daily Mail.

“The rates have gone up too. A box of 120 cricket balls would be charged normally by airlines at about $5 a kilo. The last quote I got was $15 a kilo. Most of the stuff goes through the Middle East, but if you’ve suddenly got rockets flying around, you’ve got a major problem,” he explained further.

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