Having watched the Dukes ball do wonders for Test cricket in the current series between England and India, Josh Hazlewood hopes Kookaburra can achieve something similar this summer.
The ongoing five-match series, stacked with momentum swings, has been widely hailed as a great advertisement for Test cricket.
Hazlewood, who admits he's watched Virat Kohli's men closely ahead of their four-Test tour of Australia, feels the Dukes has been responsible for an absorbing balance between bat and ball.
England and India have failed to pass 400 in any innings so far. It's been in sharp contrast to the run-laden Tests of recent Australian summers.
Part of that contrast is explained by Australia's relatively flat pitches. Kookaburra's balls have also been a source of discontent among some Australian players during recent years.
Hazlewood suggested the pressure is on Kookaburra to improve its flagship product.
"They keep developing the pink ball and improving that," he told reporters on Friday.
"It's come a long way in a couple of years but I think they still need to focus on the red ball, we play the majority of our cricket with that.
"The Australian pitches are quite brutal on the ball and keeping that ball nice and hard (is important).
"They're doing a few things now and working on a harder bit around the seam."
Dukes were trialled in the second half of recent Sheffield Shield seasons and Hazlewood said the feedback was positive.
"I've talked to a few of the guys and they seem to enjoy it," he said.
"It brings you into the game for a bit longer. The Kooka stops swinging and you're relying on reverse-swing and up and down."
National captain Tim Paine was among a handful of onlookers at the SCG nets on Friday, when Starc and Hazlewood unleashed off the long run while bowling to Steve Waugh's son Austin and some other young NSW batsman.
Starc and Hazlewood, sidelined since the scandal-plagued tour of South Africa with leg and back injuries respectively, both cranked the pace up.
Starc will return in the UAE, where Australia's first Test against Pakistan begins on October 7, while Hazlewood will make his comeback in the domestic one-day competition that starts later this month.
"If they were one-dayers I'd back myself in but it's just that extra workload," Hazlewood said.
"You don't want to push really hard for a tour and miss the rest of summer. There's a lot of cricket coming up, not just this summer but obviously (a World Cup and Ashes) following that."
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