Australian openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja had given their team a strong start in the second innings of the ongoing fifth Ashes Test at The Oval. England had set Australia a stiff target of 384.
The Aussies are already 2-1 up and had retained the urn. However, this was a chance to win an away Ashes series outright for the first time since 2001.
The Aussies started the final day with 135 runs on the board and 10 wickets in hand but the English bowlers took three wickets in quick succession in the first session of Day 5 to build pressure on the visitors.
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The first to depart was David Warner who nicked Chris Woakes' delivery to Jonny Bairstow. Khawaja soon followed his opening partner back to the pavilion as he was trapped in front by Woakes.
Mark Wood then dismissed in-form Marnus Labuschagne who edged the ball to Zak Crawley at second slip.
Did the umpires replace an old ball with a new one?
Interestingly, English bowlers were able to find a lot more swing than on day 4 and it all happened after the umpires decided to replace the ball early on in the day. The previous ball was deemed to have been bent out of shape.
The umpires went on to replace the ball. However, visuals on TV showed that the replacement ball seemed to be a lot newer than the ball which was replaced, provoking a debate among fans and pundits.
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Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting was quick to point out the difference between the two balls on air. Generally, when a ball is replaced because it is out of shape, umpires select a similar-aged ball.
And to add further fuel to the fire, the English fast bowlers picked three quick wickets with the "newer ball".
Did the new ball give an advantage to England?
The Dukes ball that has been used in the ongoing Ashes 2023 has divided opinions among experts and viewers as some of them felt that the ball needed to be changed too frequently throughout the series.
Isn’t it supposed to be like for like when you change the ball 🤔
— Glenn Mitchell (@MitchellGlenn) July 31, 2023
Must have been a small sample size in the box yesterday
🏏 #Ashes #ENGvAUS pic.twitter.com/CGvNwnbw9n
On the final day as well, as soon as the ball was changed in the morning, Australia started to lose wickets as the new ball produced a lot more movement.
In a series that has seen its fair share of controversies, the ball changing incident will spark further debates.
