Former Australia skipper not happy with ill-timed ball-change during fifth Test of Ashes 2023

England defeated Australia in the fifth and final Test match of Ashes 2023. The hosts completed a brilliant comeback to level the series 2-2 after being down 0-2. This series witnessed some controversial decisions. One of them was Jonny Bairstow‘s runout which came in the second Test match of the series which was played at the Lord’s, in London.

However, after the end of the fifth Test, one more controversy has risen, which is England’s ball-change tactic on the final day of the match. On this, former Australia skipper, Ricky Ponting opined that he was not happy with the decision.”The biggest concern I have is the big discrepancy in the condition of the ball that was chosen to replace. There’s no way in the world you can even look at those two balls there and say in any way are they comparable,” Ponting was quoted as saying on Sky Sports.

I think it’s a huge blunder that needs to be investigated: Ricky Ponting

“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. 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,” the World Cup-winning captain added.

When the change of ball happened, England got an opening as the Australians lost quick wickets which meant that the Three Lions were back in the game. The former right-hand batter opined that the ball which was changed would not have swung as much as the new ball had. “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,” the 48-year-old asserted.

“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.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 picked one out of there that they think will be okay to use,” the former Australian cricketer concluded.