[Tony_Iommi]

...also, it seems that here in the US the new ball will inevitably 'become mandatory' across the board. What I mean by that: there's just no way that you could reasonably establish a system by which you could have players above a certain level play with the new ball, and leave it optioal for everybody else below that. So, while there technically might not be an introduction of a formal rule, everybody will end up with the poly-ball (or whatever they call that thing...)