Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting lambasted the on-field umpires over their decision on changing the ball as he wants the change of ball to be investigated. The ball change in the morning session of Day 5 sparked a wide range of controversy as England bowlers extracted some assistance from the changed ball.
The umpires replaced the ball during the 37th over of Australia’s batting innings following the Mark Wood bouncer that struck the Australian opener Usman Khawaja in the helmet, but the ball change looked significantly fresher than that of the Old ball, as the fortunes changed for England with that ball as they found some swing with the replaced ball.
Speaking On Skysports Cricket, Ricky Ponting raised his concerns regarding the condition of the replaced that ball as he feels that the two balls didn’t even close and asserted that the umpire should have selected a right ball which closer to that of the Old Ball
“The biggest concern I have is the big discrepancy in the condition of the ball that was chosen to replace the one (out of shape). 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,” Ricky Ponting said.
Australian openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner put in an impressive unbeaten partnership of 135 runs in a record chase of 384 runs to keep their team in hunt to chase down the total on the final day of the game but fell on the first hour of the Day 5 which led to the decline of their team as they bowled out for 334 runs in a rain-curtailed game.
A Huge Moment In The Test Match And I Think Actually Has To Be Investigated – Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting feels that they weren’t many old balls in the box of the replacements balls as the Umpires picked up some older ones which also looked out of shape and also questioned how two International umpires can a mistake in a huge moment of the game and wants the issue to be investigated.
“Now, if you have a look in that box, there weren’t too many older-condition balls in there. Some older ones were picked up, and the umpires looked at them 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,” Ricky Ponting added.
Ben Stokes’s led side made a stunning comeback into the game in the final day of the game as they rattled the Australian batting lineup on the final day to draw the series 2-2 on home soil, as they outplayed the Aussies team in the last three games of the series.