RICKY PONTING has been left fuming at the umpires during the final Ashes test and has claimed they have made a “huge blunder”.
The Aussie legend has suggested that the umpires “need investigating” after changing the ball for the England bowlers.
At the time of the ball change only 11 deliveries could be bowled with it as day four came to a close.
The ball was changed after Mark Wood hit opener Usman Khawaja on the helmet with a bouncer.
This led umpires Joel Wilson and Kumar Dharmasena to decide that the ball had gone out of shape and switch up the ball.
However during the morning session of day five, the Australian batters were putting up a good fight as they looked to chase down the target of 384 and win the Ashes‘ series.
And the change managed to swing the day’s play as England then took the three wickets of David Warner, Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne.
This saw the Aussie score slump from 135-0 to 169-3 as England looked to tie the series by winning the fifth test.
But Ponting was left fuming at the decision as he believed that there was a “big discrepancy” between the new ball and the one that was replaced.
He said on Sky Sports: “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].
“There’s no way in the world you can even look at those two balls there and say in any way are they comparable.
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“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.”
His complaint is that the new ball was shiner and harder than the old one, which would mean that it swing more and help the England bowlers.
Ponting added: “The conditions were perfect for bowling this morning, let’s say that. 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.”
