Ricky Ponting calls for investigation after Aussies dudded in Ashes 'disgrace'

Ricky Ponting has called for an official investigation into why umpires gave England what appeared to be a brand-new ball just 37 overs into the second innings of the fifth Ashes Test. Controversy erupted early on the final day of the series finale at The Oval when commentators and fans noticed that the replacement ball England had been given looked much newer and shinier than the old one.

England successfully appealed to the umpires to get the ball changed late on the fourth day, with the officials agreeing that it had gone out of shape. Umpires have the power to replace a ball that is no longer in shape, but it must be as like-for-like as possible.

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The Aussies had been cruising at 0-135 when the older ball was in use, but England managed to get way more swing, seam and bounce when the newer ball was put in play. Fans were left seething when they noticed the newer ball looked far harder and shinier than that of its 37-over replacement.

And they were even more enraged when the newer ball helped England take three quick wickets. David Warner (60), Usman Khawaja (72) and Marnus Labuschagne (13) all fell at the hands of the new ball, reducing the Aussies to 3-169 in their chase of 384.

Speaking in commentary for Sky Sports, Aussie legend Ponting went as far as to call for an investigation into how the umpires could get it so wrong. “It certainly looks a lot newer than the one they changed from," he said. “Look at how much writing is on the side of that ball … that is a huge contrast to the conditions to the two Dukes balls.

“The biggest concern I have is the big discrepancy in the condition of the ball that was chosen. There’s no way in the world you can even look at those two balls there and say in any way they are comparable.

“At the end of the day, if you are going to change the ball, you want to make sure you get it right, so it’s as close as you possibly can to the one that you’re changing it from. There weren’t too many older condition balls in there - there were some older ones that were picked up, they threw them back.

“I cannot fathom how two international umpires that have done this so many times before, have got this so wrong. That is a huge moment in this game, potentially a huge moment in the Test match, and something I think has to be investigated.

“Whether there were the right condition balls in the box, or whether the umpires have gone and blase, picked one out of there. It was a perfect storm, conditions were perfect for bowling this morning but that ball there, that’s on the left of screen, I’ve got no doubt at all, that ball would not have done anywhere near as much as that ball this morning.

“Double the amount of movement from this morning, seam movement and swing. I think it’s a huge blunder that as I said, needs to be investigated.”

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On Channel 9, former Aussie player Callum Ferguson said: “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.

“Those two balls are so, so different. That’s almost a new ball. They might as well unwrapped a new one. I find it staggering they ended up with that ball.”

Speaking after the match, Khawaja said he felt like the newer ball was "eight overs old." He said: “As soon as they changed that ball, I knew straight away that ball was very different.

“I went up to (umpire Kumar Dharmasena) and asked, ‘How old this ball? It feels like it’s eight overs old'. You could see the writing both sides, and it hit my bat so hard."

Khawaja added: “I’ve opened the batting in every single innings this Ashes series, and I haven’t felt a ball hit my bat as hard as that ball. I said to the boys coming in, ‘Be careful, this new ball is going to be tricky.’

“Some things you can’t control in this game, and it’s disappointing for us because it felt like we had a real stranglehold on that game. That ball was at 90 overs and it was still hooping around corners and the keeper’s taking it above his head. It really hurts you. England is a class bowling attack, and if you give them a little inch, they will always get as much out of it.”

Steve Smith and Travis Head managed to hit the shine off the newer ball and took Australia all the way to 3-264 - requiring 120 for victory with seven wickets in hand. But the Aussies lost 4-11 and 7-70 to be all out for 334 as England salvaged a 2-2 series draw with a 49-run victory.

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