Australia were well-placed at 135-0 in the fourth innings at the Kia Oval, chasing England’s 384 before a change of ball turned around their fortunes. Mark Wood hit Usman Khawaja on the helmet near the close of play on Day Four and the umpires changed the ball, given the original had been dented by the blow. The evening passed with 11 more wicketless deliveries before stumps. The ball had barely swung for the entire innings and at the point it was changed it had been used to the point that its writings were barely visible.

The next day the replacement generated significantly more movement and appeared much harder and newer than the previous. The manufacturer’s gold font was visible as well, and the England team took three quick wickets in the morning session of Day Five. Having not looked like taking a wicket at all the day before, the difference in the potency of the ball was significant.

Ricky Ponting was scathing on Sky commentary in his assessment of the ball that had been picked, stating that it did not appear a like-for-like replacement, and demanded an investigation into the change.

The owner of Dukes Cricket Balls, Dilip Jajodia, is reportedly looking to look into the matter internally after Usman Khawaja and Zak Crawley both admitted after the game that the ball change did have an impact on the result. England eventually won the game by 49 runs to ensure the series finished level on 2-2. There was also speculation after the match that the ball could have been from a previous batch which gave more movement than the 2023 batch.

Isn’t it supposed to be like for like when you change the ball 🤔

Must have been a small sample size in the box yesterday

🏏 #Ashes #ENGvAUS pic.twitter.com/CGvNwnbw9n

— Glenn Mitchell (@MitchellGlenn) July 31, 2023

Jajodia told News Corp: “Every ball we produce for the specific season has got a date stamp on it. It would have 2023 marked on it.

“We supply balls to the ground. These balls are not controlled by the ECB or the ICC, it’s controlled by the ground authority. So on this particular occasion (at The Kia Oval) the balls would be done by Surrey.

“Surrey get the supply of balls from us before the season starts and then they start knocking them in, getting them into wear and tear if you like and in my view, they’re probably not doing it that accurately.”

He admitted that a stray ball from 2018-19, when the Dukes’ balls had significant swing and proved to be a nightmare for batters, could have found its way into the box. But he also said this seems an unlikely error. “I can’t imagine they would risk putting a ball in there with a different date on it. Frankly, the match referee should be on top of it.

“We do bang that number in quite hard, so even if the gold comes off the ball is imprinted. It wouldn’t be easy to get rid of it. I’m not saying it’s impossible (that it was a 2018 or 2019 ball), but it’s not likely.

“I’m going to investigate myself because it affects me. My name is at stake so it’s important they don’t misallege something was wrong with the ball.”

Earlier, Khawaja revealed that the on-field umpires, Joel Wilson and Kumar Dharmasena, told him that there were no other options in the box. This statement has been debunked by footage from when the ball was being changed. He added that the replacement ball was “harder than any ball I’ve faced in this Ashes series.”

Speaking on the Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club Podcast, Crawley said, “It’s fair to say that was certainly a good break for us and probably made the difference in the end because the ball we had before wasn’t doing much.”