Upon comparing the newly selected ball with the one England had been using before, a noticeable difference was spotted in the shine and appearance
Controversy resurfaced during the final day of the 2023 Ashes series when England managed to claim three wickets in the morning session following a late ball change in the evening session of day four. The replacement ball appeared remarkably newer than its predecessor, raising suspicions.
On the previous day, England had failed to secure any wickets in the fourth innings and Australia had confidently reached 135-0, pursuing a challenging 384-run target to win the series. A significant incident occurred when Mark Wood struck Usman Khawaja’s helmet with a short delivery in the penultimate over, causing damage to the ball. Consequently, the umpires decided to replace the ball and selected a new one from the available set of differently aged balls.
Upon comparing the newly selected ball with the one England had been using before, a noticeable difference was spotted in the shine and appearance. Interestingly, on Day 5, the bowling conditions seemed to favor England’s seamers as David Warner, Khawaja, and Marnus Labuschagne were all dismissed within a span of just seven overs.
“There’s, there’s no way in the world you can even look at those two balls there and say in any way they are comparable,” said Ponting. “At the end of the day, if you are gonna change the ball, you want to make sure you get it 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. I just cannot fathom how two international umpires that have done that a lot of times before can get that so wrong,” Ponting added.
During the Lunch interval, Ricky Ponting, who was part of the Sky Sports punditry team, openly expressed his doubts regarding the contrast in the condition of the new balls, a sentiment that was supported by others on the team.
ALSO READ: “I am a turtle right now, not a rabbit” – Hardik Pandya on managing bowling workload ahead of ODI WC
The controversy also gained momentum online, with numerous former and current players offering their perspectives on the matter.
Isn’t it supposed to be like for like when you change the ball 🤔
Must have been a small sample size in the box yesterday
🏏 #Ashes #ENGvAUS pic.twitter.com/CGvNwnbw9n
— Glenn Mitchell (@MitchellGlenn) July 31, 2023
Beware the 2nd newy #ashes
— Glenn Maxwell (@Gmaxi_32) July 31, 2023
Callum Ferguson on Channel 9: “I think it is actually disgraceful they have allowed a ball this new into the game at the stage they did. It made it very difficult.”@FoxCricket https://t.co/61J0fa9RCz
— Nic Savage (@nic_savage1) July 31, 2023
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
