Ricky Ponting has blasted the choice of ball handed to England on the morning of Day 5 at the Oval, with the Australian captain calling for an investigation into the umpiring.
Umpires Joel Wilson and Kumar Dharmasena agreed to change the ball after the first delivery of the 37th over in south London on Monday, deeming that it had gone out of shape after Mark Wood struck Usman Khawaja on the helmet with a bouncer.
However, the replacement ball appeared to be significantly harder and newer than the ball England had used previously, and the hosts took advantage dramatically.
Ben Stokes‘s side picked up the wickets of Khawaja, David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne in quick succession, giving them the chance of a fightback on the final day of the series.
A furious Ponting took to the airwaves on Sky Sports to suggest the umpires had either been ‘blasé’ in their approach to the ball change, or had not been given an appropriate replacement by fourth umpire David Millns.
Umpires Joel Wilson and Kumar Dharmasena agreed to change the ball after the first delivery of the 37th over – and the replacement looked far newer and more helpful to bowlers than the original Duke ball
Ricky Ponting has demanded an investigation into an umpiring decision
England benefitted from a ball change on the morning of the final day of the Ashes
‘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.
‘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.
‘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 former Australia captain says the decision needs to be investigated by officials
Ponting went on to double down on his stance and called for an investigation into the decision.
‘The conditions were perfect for bowling this morning, let’s say that,’ he added. ‘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.’
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