Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting launched a scathing attack against the two on-field umpires, Joel Wilson and Kumar Dharmasena, in the 5th and final Ashes 2023 at The Oval regarding the ball change controversy that came to life on Day 5.
The ball that was changed late on Day 4, just a couple of overs before the premature end to the day’s play due to rain, made a significant impact for England as the English seamers took three wickets in the first session of Day 5 to make a comeback in the match after the 140-run opening stand between David Warner and Usman Khawaja in their chase of the 384-run target.
The changed new ball looked much relatively new, shinier, and harder than the one they had replaced at the request of the England team.
Ricky Ponting called this a “huge blunder” that “needs to be investigated”
“The biggest concern I have is the big discrepancy in the condition of the ball that was chosen to replace the one [that had gone out of shape],” Ponting said on Sky Sports. “There’s no way in the world you can even look at those two balls there and say in any way are they comparable.
“At the end of the day, if you are going to change the ball, you want to make sure that you get it right, so [you make 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.
A bouncer from Mark Wood hit Khawaja on the helmet after which England requested for a ball change. The umpires were convinced that the ball had gone a bit out of shape and replaced it – but the new ball helped England significantly as it was swinging and seaming a lot more than the older ball did. Australia slipped from 140/0 to 169/3, with England tracking back in the match.
Ricky Ponting was flummoxed and furious with the two on-field umpires, and demanded this matter be “investigated” by the higher authorities.
Aussies batters playing and missing/false shot percentage in this innings:
Before the ball change: 16%
In the 10 overs after the ball change: 38%#Ashes— Louis Cameron (@LouisDBCameron) July 31, 2023
“I just cannot fathom how two international umpires that have done that a lot of times before can get that so wrong. 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, blasé, picked one out of there that they think will be okay to use.”
“The conditions were perfect for bowling this morning, let’s say that,” Ponting said. “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.”
"There's no way in the world you can look at those two balls there and say in any way that they're comparable" 😤
Ricky Ponting is NOT happy with that 'new' ball 😳 pic.twitter.com/maDFpv8RhM
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 31, 2023
Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell took a dig at the umpires by tweeting that this was a totally new ball, instead of the changed ball which should have been of comparable wear and tear to the one that was replaced.
Beware the 2nd newy #ashes
— Glenn Maxwell (@Gmaxi_32) July 31, 2023
