The Making of a Cricket

Ball

Writing Skill Exercise Adapted from

http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/02/inside-a-cricket-equipment-factory/

A worker tans pieces of leather which will be used to make cricket balls at a factory in Meerut, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Delhi, January 28, 2011. 

A worker colours pieces of leather which will be used to make cricket balls at a factory in Meerut, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Delhi, January 31, 2011.

India's top cricketers are revered in a country where the sport is almost a religion. 

A worker cuts a piece of tanned leather which will be used to make cricket balls at a factory in Meerut. BDM, a family cricket equipment business for almost 90 years, has made bats, balls and other equipment for most of India's top cricketers, and international stars such as Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya and the West Indies legend Brian Lara. 

A worker wraps strings around a cork as part of the cricket ball making process at a factory in Meerut. The factory produces around 600 balls a day, and each costs retailers 60-600 rupees. 

A worker uses a hammer to shape a cork wrapped in strings into a spherical core as part of the cricket ball making process at a factory in Meerut. 

A worker stitches two leather halves together as part of the cricket ball making process at a factory in Meerut, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Delhi, January 28, 2011. 

A worker stitches two leather halves together as part of the cricket ball making process at a factory in Meerut. The workers are paid 5,000 rupees ($110) a month, plus performance-related bonuses. 

A string-wrapped spherical core and two leather halves are weighed before they are made into a cricket ball at a factory in Meerut, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Delhi, February 3, 2011

A worker stitches two leather halves together with a spherical core inside the leather halves as part of a cricket ball making process at a factory in Meerut, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Delhi, January 28, 2011. 

A worker sits behind bunches of cork core that are left on the ground to dry before being used to make cricket balls at a factory in Meerut, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Delhi, January 28, 2011. 

A worker stitches two leather halves together with a spherical core inside to form a cricket ball at a factory in Meerut, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Delhi, January 28, 2011. 

A worker works on leather pieces which will be used to make cricket balls at a factory in Meerut, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Delhi, January 28, 2011. 

A worker shines cricket balls before packing them at a factory in Meerut January 31, 2011.

A worker shines cricket balls before packing them at a factory in Meerut January 31, 2011. 

A worker stamps balls before they are packed at a factory in Meerut. 

Workers carry cricket balls to be packed at a factory in Meerut. Devoid of heavy machinery, the workshop is filled with the thuds of hammers on leather, banging of cork into cores, and the tinkle of needle on steel as dozens of men furiously stitch together 600 balls every day. 

Workers pack cricket balls at a factory in Meerut, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Delhi, January 31, 2011. 

A customer buys a cricket ball at a shop in the old quarters of Delhi February 4, 2011.