England has reaped the benefits of a fortuitous ball change at The Oval, with Australia losing both openers early on day five of the Ashes finale.
The Dukes ball wasn’t swinging for England’s quicks on Sunday — James Anderson, arguably the greatest swing bowler in history, couldn’t get it move, and neither could Chris Woakes.
It allowed Australian openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner to survive the new-ball burst, with England turning to spin after just nine overs in London.
Australia was cruising at 0-126 when Khawaja copped a nasty blow to the helmet early in the 37th over — umpires decided to change the ball, which had lost its shape after Mark Wood’s bumper, for a like-for-like replacement.
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However, much to England’s delight, Wood’s first delivery with the fresh Dukes hooped into the left-handed Khawaja, which raised some eyebrows in the Sky Sports commentary box.
“It certainly looks a lot newer than the one they changed from,” Australian cricket legend Ricky Ponting remarked.
“Look at how much writing is on the side of that ball … that is a huge contrast to the conditions of the two Dukes balls.”
Former Test opener Mark Taylor continued: “It really pinged off the bat. It even sounds harder.”
Wood’s next delivery found Khawaja’s outside edge, with the ball racing towards third man for a boundary. Later in the same over, a leading edge narrowly evaded the point fielder.
Thankfully for Australia’s openers, the heavens opened a few minutes later, forcing a premature end to day four — but England would have felt confident their new Dukes pill could cause some damage the following morning.
Australia’s openers were greeted by overcast conditions on Monday, and it quickly became apparent that batting would be considerably more difficult. Stuart Broad’s first delivery swung sharply into Warner, with the veteran seamer also beating Khawaja’s outside edge later in the over.
“The ball did nothing yesterday,” former England spinner Phil Tufnell remarked on BBC Test Match Special.
“It was gun-barrel straight.”
At the other end, Woakes was hooping the ball even further — he removed Warner and Khawaja in quick succession during a blistering spell of 2-19 from six overs.
“This is a complete contrast to what we saw bowling conditions-wise yesterday,” Ponting continued.
“It has got to be this change of ball. There was absolutely nothing happening. Australia dominated. Totally different this morning, that’s for sure.
“I just cannot fathom how two international umpires that have done that a lot of times can actually get that so wrong.
“That is a huge moment in this game, potentially a huge moment in the Test match and something that I think actually has to be investigated.”
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Australia had lost 2-15 in 44 balls after the ball change, shifting momentum firmly back in England’s favour.
“This ball change has made an enormous difference,” former England batter Mark Butcher continued.
“The (new ball) looked brand-spanking new.”
Former Australian international Callum Ferguson continued on Channel 9: “I think it is actually disgraceful they have allowed a ball this new into the game at the stage they did. It made it very difficult.
“Those two balls are so, so different. That’s almost a new ball. They might as well unwrapped a new one.
“I find it staggering they ended up with that ball.”