• Source:JND
Add as a preferred

The Ashes 2023 might have ended on a 2-2 draw at The Oval in London on Monday but the off-field battle between England and Australia remain alive. The ball change on the deciding day of the fifth Test has created controversy with Australia demanding an investigation on the episode.

The incident took place during the 37th over of Australia's chase when umpires opted to change the old ball. The visitors were not happy with the replacement ball given to England as it was a lot newer than the previous one.

During lunch break, Ponting said on Sky Sports, “The biggest concern I have is the big discrepancy in the condition of the ball that was chosen to replace. There’s no way in the world you can even look at those two balls there and say in any way are they comparable. If you are going to change the ball, you want to make sure that you get it right, so it is as close as you possibly can to the one that you’re changing it from. Now if you have a look in that box, there weren’t too many older-condition balls in there. There were some older ones that were picked up, the umpires looked at that and threw them back.”

“The conditions were better for bowling this morning. But what I saw last night, that ball there, I’ll put my hand up and say I’ve got absolutely no doubt at all that that ball would not have done anywhere near as much as what that one did this morning. Double the amount of movement this morning from yesterday afternoon, seam movement and swing. I think it’s a huge blunder that needs to be investigated," he added.

ALSO READ: Couldn't Be More Proud Of The Team For What They Did, Says Ben Stokes After Levelling Series 2-2 

Australia were wicketless before the ball change but lost both openers David Warner (60) and Usman Khawaja (72) inside six over with the fresh ball.

“That is a huge moment in this game, potentially a huge moment in the Test match, and something I think actually has to be investigated… whether there was the right condition of balls in the box, or the umpires have just picked one out of there that they think will be okay to use,” Ponting continued.

Chasing 384, Australia lost the match by 49 runs and failed to yield their early 2-0 lead in the last three matches of the five-Test series.

ALSO READ: Pakistan To Play Three ODIs Against Afghanistan In Sri Lanka Ahead Of Asia Cup 2023

Khawaja said he conveyed to the umpire that the changed ball is a lot new than the previous one as it was coming hard on the bat.

“We started off really well. The big thing was that ball. As soon as they changed that ball, the first over they changed that ball. I knew straight away this ball was very different. I went straight up to Kumar and said ‘how old is this ball you’ve given them because it feels like it’s about eight overs old.’ You could see the writing on both sides and it hit my bat so hard," the opener said in the post-match presentation.

"I’ve opened in every single innings this Ashes series and I haven’t felt the ball hit my bat as hard as that ball felt when it hit my bat. So I said to the boys even coming into today (fifth day) to be careful, this new ball, it’s going to be tricky. It’s going to be a lot harder than that other ball," he added.