Kookaburra Sport Kookaburra Sport Kookaburra is an Australian sports equipment company, specialising in cricket and field hockey equipment, named after the Australian kingfisher. The company notably manufactures the most widely used brand of ball used in One-day internationals and Test cricket. The company was founded in 1890 as A.G. Thompson Pty Ltd by Alfred Grace Thompson, a migrant harness and saddle maker who turned to manufacturing cricket balls when his livelihood was threatened by the advent of the motor car. In the mid-1980s, the company diversified into manufacturing the full range of cricket bats, clothing, footwear and protective equipment. In addition to
Kookaburra III a very fast sailer. Iain Murray believed her to be the syndicates fastest right up until the defender finals, when "Kookaburra III" finally became faster as a result of a keel modification. The defender series was extremely competitive, with "Kookaburra II", "Kookaburra III" and "Australia IV" all very close in boat speed. This led to extremely close racing, marred only by the large number of protests raised. The red protest flag was a frequent flyer from the stern of a defender boat, with the results of the day's sailing protested nearly every other race. In all, fifty protests were lodged