You use a ball in the glove for the same reason as you tape a bail to the bat handle low down when coaching. It teaches the bottom hand to guide and direct the ball rather than provide power. You hit the ball better with timing than with strength. It is one of the weird things about a game that gets so involved with biomechanics that you place the strongest hand in the place where you don't want it to be dominant, hence the reason there are many succesful right handers that bat "left-handed" (right hand at top of handle).
As for legality? You couldn't define it as "External Protective Equipment" nor as "Clothing", but as it is inside the glove it has no effect on any of the laws. Only wicket keepers currently have specifiactions and rules regarding their gloves so in theory if the use of an item inside the glove became and issue manufacturers could make gloves with an insert that serves the same purpose.
Storm in a cup of dilmah, I reckon. Some of the outraged comments from fans have been pretty funny to listen to though. This was my favourite:
Quote:
The characteristic of the squash ball indicates that the ball is made of vulcanised rubber with additions of polymers and synthetic material to achieve a degree of fairly low resilience. The lower the resilience of the object the higher the proportion of energy used in deforming it. Thus when a batsmen hits the cricket ball, the air inside the squash ball gets pressurised or deformed, releasing a spring load of energy, that is transferred directly to the bat, resulting in a catapulting effect on the cricket ball, as evidenced by the spectators, watching Gilchrist’s batting spell bound.
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items07/050507-2.html
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