A BELLARINE PENINSULA man has developed a glow-in-the-dark cricket ball he hopes will put the Geelong region on the international sporting map.

Point Lonsdale landscaper and sports enthusiast, Nicholas Martino, said the world-first, rechargeable, glowing cricket ball had potential to be used in local cricket, twilight T-20 games, indoor cricket and backyard cricket.

It could also help cricket clubs extend pre-season training sessions by enabling practice to continue into the evening without lights, he said.

“One market is providing a ball for Big Bash games and another huge audience is obviously for kids hitting the ball around at home,” Mr Martino said.

Because a single ball glowed brightly for just a short period, it had to be charged in a small box at the end of each over, he said.

A second glow ball was used while the first ball was charging, and the balls continued to be swapped throughout the game.

“So you play with two balls, charging one then the other,” Mr Martino said.

It took just 20 seconds to charge a ball, he said.

The sophisticated technology behind the glowing cricket ball had been developed in China and was the same as that used in LED television and phone screens, Mr Martino said.

The glowing ball, designed to feel and handle like a standard Kookaburra cricket ball, was manufactured in India, he said.

A glow-in-the-dark football he had developed in the past had also been improved over the past two years to look and feel more like leather, Mr Martino said.

He had also developed glow-in-the-dark soccer balls and baseballs.

So far only a few prototypes of the glowing cricket ball had been made but Mr Martino said he was hopeful of increasing production in the near future.

He also hoped Geelong region cricket clubs would offer to trial the novel glowing ball in twilight games and at training.

“It will be a world first so it could put Geelong and specifically cricket in Geelong, on the map,” Mr Martino said.

More information about the glowing cricket balls can be found at facebook.com/ChargeGlowInTheDarkFootball