🏏 Tennis ball or leather ball for our Sunday cricket group, we cannot agree

We play cricket every Sunday morning on the open ground near Mehdipatnam, around twelve of us. Most of the group is in the thirties or forties now, with a couple of fifty year olds. For years we used a tennis ball wrapped in tape because nobody wanted to buy a proper one. Last month one of the newer guys brought a leather ball and half the group went quiet. I had a go with it and my hand stung for two days afterwards. The ball comes through much faster off the pitch and there is no room for a lazy shot. Two of us dropped easy catches because we simply were not ready for the pace of it. The fielding side felt like proper cricket for the first time in ten years though. Then the practical problems showed up very quickly, because a decent ball costs around 700 rupees. Nobody has pads or a helmet either, and one friend has a bad knee from an old injury. Another friend said he would rather play for two hours in peace than limp around all week. Fair point, I suppose, but I kept thinking about how much better the game felt. We have not settled anything, and the debate now runs through the whole WhatsApp group. Some want a mixed plan, with tennis ball for the first hour and leather after that. I like that idea, though I worry the leather ball will end up unused in somebody's bag. If your Sunday group made this switch, did it last or did everyone drift back?

A hand that stung for 2 days after a leather ball is a fair reason to stay with tennis. Our group in Tolichowki settled on a hard tennis ball with a seam, the kind sold for cricket, around 90 rupees.

Our Sunday group in Tolichowki tried the mixed plan you mentioned and it stuck for about four months.