'Ball-Change Controversy' Strikes Ashes, Ricky Ponting Demands Investigation

The Ashes 2023 series was truly a spectacle, with both Australia and England giving their all. While the series witnessed breath-taking cricketing action, it also saw some controversial moments. For the most part of the series, the Jonny Bairstow dismissal remained the biggest-talking point. However, after the conclusion of the 5th Test at the Oval, a controversy has erupted over England's ball-change tactic on the final day of the match. In fact, Australian batter Usman Khawaja and former captain Ricky Ponting have come out saying they weren't happy with the replacement ball used by Ben Stokes' men.

After the conclusion of the match, Ponting expressed his frustration as the suggested that the replacement ball used in the 37th over wasn't a match for the ball that was being replaced.

"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. 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," Ponting said on Sky Sports.

"There's no way in the world you can look at those two balls there and say in any way that they're comparable"Ricky Ponting is NOT happy with that 'new' ball pic.twitter.com/maDFpv8RhM

Won WC by boundary count now winning ashes by changing ball.Is this how a 40 overs old ball change would look alike @ECB_cricket ? pic.twitter.com/aJPWSB2qkZ

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