By Malcolm Conn and Daniel Brettig
London: Ricky Ponting has taken aim at the umpires after a changed ball on day four of the fifth Test at the Oval aided England’s bowlers en route to a 49-run victory on Monday.
An old ball which had gone out of shape was replaced on Sunday with a much newer ball that still had gold branding on it, infuriating the former Australia captain. He heavily criticised umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Joel Wilson for the ball swap.
Just 11 deliveries were bowled with the replacement ball on Sunday before rain washed out the last three hours of play, but it moved consistently in the air and off the pitch on Monday either side of a two-hour rain break.
“The biggest concern I have is the big discrepancy in the condition of the ball chosen to replace it,” Ponting told Sky Sports. “There is no way in the world you can even look at those two balls there and say in any way they are comparable. If you are going to change balls, you want to make sure you get it right, as close as you possibly can to the one you are changing it from.
“There weren’t too many older-condition balls in there. But there were some that were picked up, 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 actually get it 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.
Ricky Ponting has hit out at England’s contentious ball swap late on day four at the Oval.Credit: Getty/Nine
“Whether there was (sic) the right conditioned balls in the box, or the umpires have just been blase and picked one out of there that they thought would be OK [I don’t know].
“It was a perfect storm as well, the conditions were better for bowling this morning. I will put my hand up and say I have no doubt at all that [old] ball would not have done anywhere near as much as that one did this morning.
“There was 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.”
Player of the match and series Chris Woakes was delighted with the ball change.
“We were happy with that, I’m not sure the Aussies were,” Woakes said at the post-match presentation. “But we made the most of the conditions.
“When you get a ball changed like that, you hope it works in your favour, and thankfully it did. We had to put the ball in the right areas and ask the right questions, and we caught well as well, which is very important.”
Australian captain Pat Cummins believes there was a significant difference between the balls.
“It seemed that way,” he said after the match. “Davey [Warner] and Uzzie [Khawaja] both walked off and said that new ball is reacting a bit differently than the one we had previous. It’s one of those things. It’s cricket. There have been multiple ball changes all season.”
Warner and Khawaja were untroubled on Sunday, kicking off Australia’s second innings with an unbeaten 135-run partnership, but both struggled on Monday from the time they returned to the crease.
Warner (60) added just two to his overnight score before being undone by some fine bowling from Woakes, edging to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow. Khawaja (72) added just three before being judged lbw against Woakes to a ball that darted back into the left-hander.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.