Australia batter, Usman Khawaja has recently expressed his unhappiness over an incident that happened during the final Ashes Test.
On Day 4, the umpires decided to change the ball as its shape changed after hitting Khawaja on the helmet.
Moreover, the ball chosen was a new and shiny leather ball rather than picking a used one. This decision by the on-field umpires wasn’t received well at all by Australia.
But, after detailed discussions with both umpires, it was revealed that there were no other balls in the box.
Now, talking about the incident, Khawaja says the use of the new ball greatly improved the performance of the home side.
Furthermore, the ball was bouncing and swinging even after the completion of 95 overs.
Therefore, he says that ICC should take note of this incident and intervene as well.
I walked straight up to Kumar and said straightaway, ‘That ball looks nothing like the one we were playing with. 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 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.
England level the Ashes series 2-2; Australia retain it
Additionally, Khawaja also stated that these things tend to happen to an individual at times in cricket.
Personally, I think if there’s nothing else in the box that can match the ball you have, you can’t really change it. 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.
Talking about the game, England defeated Australia by 49 runs and thus squared off the series 2-2.
However, Australia has retained the Ashes, courtesy of winning the first two games.
But, England can get some moral support from this win as they were 2-0 down to going 2-2 in the end.
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