Ricky Ponting call falls on deaf ears as ICC breaks silence on Ashes 'disgrace'
The governing body's statement has failed to address the concerns raised across the Aussie cricket community.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has broken its silence on the replacement ball controversy that overshadowed the final day of the fifth Ashes Test. Ricky Ponting was among those fuming, with the former Australia captain calling for an investigation after umpires allowed England to replace their badly-worn ball with one that appeared to be in significantly better condition.
The incident happened just 37 overs into Australia's second innings, at which point the tourists were cruising at 0-135 in their quest to pull off a record chase at The Oval of 384 runs. Despite the protestations of opener Usman Khawaja, the home side were allowed to keep using the replacement ball, and soon took three quick wickets to completely change the complexion of the match.
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“I walked straight up to (umpire) Kumar (Dharmasena) and said straightaway, ‘That ball looks nothing like the one we were playing with. I can see writing on it’,” Khawaja revealed after the match. “It felt harder than any ball I‘ve faced in this Ashes series – and I’ve opened the batting against the new ball every single time.
“I said, ‘I don’t know what’s going on – you’ve gone from an old, reverse (swinging) ball to a brand new ball’. I asked (umpire) Joel (Wilson) again: ‘How are we using this ball right now? It’s so new’. And he said, ‘There was nothing else in the box’."
Ricky Ponting calls for an investigation
Labelled a "disgrace" by cricket fans around the world, the incident left Ponting seething as he called on the ICC to launch an investigation into how such a discrepancy between the two balls was allowed to eventuate. "There’s no way in the world you can even look at those two balls there and say in any way they are comparable," Ponting said in commentary on Sky Sports.
“At the end of the day, if you are going to change the ball, you want to make sure you get it right, so it’s as close as you possibly can to the one that you’re changing it from. There weren’t too many older condition balls in there - there were some older ones that were picked up, they threw them back.
“I cannot fathom how two international umpires that have done this so many times before, have got this 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."
ICC breaks silence on replacement ball furore
It would appear that Ponting's demand has fallen on deaf ears, after the ICC issued a brief response to the controversy. In an explanation unlikely to placate the Aussie cricket community - and heap further scrutiny on the decision of the match officials - cricket's governing body clarified the process by which a ball is changed without being drawn on the incident itself.
“The ICC does not comment on the decisions taken by umpires in matches,” a spokesperson said. “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.”
Khawaja also said the ICC "can learn" something from the controversy and argued that if there were no balls in the umpires' box that were similar to the one being replaced, then the bowling side should have to keep using the initial ball. “It‘s a bit frustrating as a batting unit because we worked our backsides off for 36 overs and then they changed the ball," Khawaja said.
“As an opener you work so hard to get through to there and then you‘re facing a new ball again. That ball was 95 overs in and still hooping and bouncing. Unfortunately, that’s the hand you get dealt sometimes in cricket. It may not feel fair but... hopefully the ICC can learn from it and try to look at that ball to change the process.”
with agencies
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