Images of original and new ball. The ball change took place on Day 4 of fifth and final Ashes Test.© Twitter
The Ashes 2023 saw an extremely controversial moment taking place in the fifth and final Test at the Oval. It erupted over England’s ball change on Day 4, which several Australia players felt was not in the right spirit. The 36-over-old ball was changed for a new one but Australia complained that the new ball was shinier and harder than what it should have been. The change of ball proved to be a turning point as Australia lost wickets in quick succession and were ultimately defeated by 49 runs.
As per the latest report, Dukes — the manufacturing company of the ball that is being used in Test matches in England — is set to investigate the matter.
“I’m going to investigate myself, because it affects me … my name is at stake so it’s important they don’t misallege something wrong with the ball,” Dilip Jajodia, the owner of British Cricket Limited, the company which manufactures the Dukes ball, told Code Sports.
“I can’t imagine they would risk putting a ball in there with a different date on it,” the owner said, adding, “Frankly the match referee should be on top of it. We do bang that number in quite hard, so even if the gold comes off, the ball is imprinted. It wouldn’t be easy to get rid of it. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s not likely.”
After the ball changing saga hogged a lot of attention with the former and current cricketers also commenting on the issue, the International Council had put out a clarification on how the process take place.
“The ICC does not comment on the decisions taken by umpires in matches. We can, however, confirm that all balls are pre-selected before the start of every match and when the situation calls for it, the match officials choose the ball that is closest to the condition of the ball that is being replaced,” a spokesperson for the global cricket governing body said.
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