XPost: uk.sport.cricket, aus.sport.cricket

Blase or Incompetency - says Ponting.

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https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/ricky-ponting-oval-test-ball-change-investigated-1390303

Ponting wants ball change during Australia second innings to be
'investigated'

Former Australia captain questions umpires after replacement ball comes
to life on fifth morning


Ricky Ponting believes the choice of replacement ball during Australia's
second innings in the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval was a "huge blunder"
which "needs to be investigated".

Umpires Joel Wilson and Kumar Dharmasena changed the ball after the
first delivery of the 37th over, deeming that it had gone out of shape
after Mark Wood hit Usman Khawaja on the helmet with a bouncer. Only 11
more balls were bowled on the second afternoon after the change of ball.

The replacement appeared to be significantly harder and newer than the
ball that had been used previously. England took three early wickets on
the fifth morning as Australia attempted to chase down 384 to clinch a
3-1 series win, with Chris Woakes dismissing Khawaja and David Warner,
and Wood having Marnus Labuschagne caught in the slips.

Ponting, the former Australia captain, suggested the umpires had either
been "blasé" in their approach to changing the ball, or had not been
given an appropriate replacement in the box of balls brought onto the
pitch by the fourth umpire, David Millns.

"The biggest concern I have is the big discrepancy in the condition of
the ball that was chosen to replace the one [that had gone out of
shape]," Ponting said on Sky Sports. "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. 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.

"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."

Sky showed ball-tracking data that suggested the ball had both seamed
and swung significantly more on the fifth morning than on the fourth
afternoon, prompting Ponting to call for an investigation.

"The conditions were perfect for bowling this morning, let's say that,"
Ponting said. "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.

"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."

According to Law 4.5, if the umpires agree that the balls has become
"unfit for play through normal use", they should replace it "with a ball
which has had wear comparable with that which the previous ball had
received before the need for its replacement".

Marcus Trescothick, England's assistant coach, said on the second
evening that the new ball seemed "just a bit harder" than the old one.

"The boys could sense the ball was making a different sound off the
bat," he said. "Immediately, there's a bit more life in it. Balls seem
to have gone very soft, very fast in this game - and this series. Both
captains have tried to change them on numerous occasions."

Glenn Maxwell, who is part of Australia's limited-overs set-up, tweeted
shortly after the first wicket to fall: "Beware the 2nd newy #ashes".

An ICC spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo: "We do not comment on on-field decisions. As you would expect, umpiring performance is continually
evaluated."

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