Ashes 2023: Khawaja Was First To Question Ball Change That 'Helped' England Win Fifth Test

Australia opener Usman Khawaja has questioned the change of the ball during the second innings in the fifth and final Test of the Ashes 2023 series at The Oval after which England went on to win the match and level the series. Though Australia retained the Ashes urn despite the 2-2 draw in the five-match series, Pat Cummins' team was unhappy because of the ball change, which they feel was not done properly and a ball that looks 'newer' than the old one and resulted in England prising out Australian batsmen to trigger a collapse.

Two deliveries after a Mark Wood bouncer clattered into his helmet with such force that it knocked the ball out of shape, Khawaja was the first Australian batter to express his concern regarding the ball, walking up to umpire Kumar Dharamsena to claim that the replacement was offering significantly more movement than the Old one.

"I walked straight up to Kumar and said straightaway, 'That ball looks nothing like the one we were playing with. I can see writing on it," Khawaja was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au 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," Khawaja said.

"In the first 10 overs after England were handed an appreciably shinier red ball, upon which Khawaja could again see the gold-embossed Dukes coat of arms as it came down at him (whereas it was scuffed off on the ball that was traded in), those same bowlers were inducing a mistake with nearly every second delivery on average," the cricket.com.au website said in a report.

Many Australian cricketers including former captain Ricky Ponting questioned the umpires for picking up what appears a replacement that looked newer than the old one with Ponting even seeking an investigation by the ICC.

Khawaja said he had also raised a protest with Dharamesena's counterpart, Joel Wilson. 

"I asked Joel again today, 'How are we using this ball right now? It's so new.' And he said, 'there was nothing else in the box'," said Khawaja, who had put on 140 for the first wicket with Warner.

"Personally I think if there's nothing else in the box that can match the ball you have, you can't really change it," he said adding, 
"It's a bit frustrating as a batting unit because we worked our backsides off for 36 overs and then they changed the ball.

"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," he added.

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The Laws of Cricket require a replacement ball that has "wear comparable with that which the previous ball had received before the need for its replacement".