Ball change controversy hits Ashes | Ricky Ponting demands investigation, Usman Khawaja expresses concern

Updated : Aug 01, 2023 17:18
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Editorji News Desk

The Ashes series might be over but the controversies aren't.

After England turned the tables on the final day of the 5th Test vs Australia and won it by 49 runs, hosts' ball-change tactic has raised a few eyebrows.

Chasing 384, Australia was 140 for no loss at stumps on Day 4. However, England had a ball-change in the 37th over which turned the match on it's head.

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting expressed his frustration and suggested that the replacement ball wasn't a match for the ball that was being replaced.

'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.'

'I think it's a huge blunder that needs to be investigated,' Ponting added.

Even Usman Khawaja expressed his displeasure with the ball-change and after the match he said that the moment they changed the ball, he knew straight away that it was very different.

The Aussie opener also revealed that he even went up to the umpire to ask him how old was the ball because it felt like it was about 8 overs old.

'You could see the writing on both sides and it hit my bat so hard. 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,' Khwaja added.

ASHES

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