Writing on the ball: Khawaja questions key switch

Two deliveries after a Mark Wood bouncer clattered into his helmet with such force that it knocked the ball out of shape, Usman Khawaja ran down the pitch with a broad smile that belied his true feelings.

Khawaja, who had just edged the replacement Dukes for four through the slips cordon, was signalling to Kumar Dharamasena with his left hand that the ball picked out by the umpires was offering significantly more movement.

Australia's openers only had to navigate another nine balls on that fourth afternoon before the rain set in. But even before they returned under dark clouds the following morning, Khawaja already knew what soon became apparent to everyone else.

"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, speaking about the deliveries from Wood immediately after the ball change, told cricket.com.au.

"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."

Judicious batting and a benign pitch had allowed David Warner and Khawaja to put on the biggest partnership by an Australian opening pair in the UK in 18 years.

Before the ball change, England's slips cordon was deserted, a ring of close catchers on the off-side was being deployed and a hint of reverse swing was on offer as the hosts desperately polished the shiny side in a bid to find some movement.

To that point, their bowlers were inducing a play and miss or a false shot with 16 per cent of their deliveries.

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.

That Stuart Broad was still producing prodigious conventional away-swing in the final session of day five with a ball that was supposedly nearly 100 overs old, allowing his fairytale farewell in which he claimed the final two Australian wickets in his final Test, also raised eyebrows.

"I just cannot fathom how two international umpires that have done that a lot of times before, can actually get it so wrong," former Australia captain Ricky Ponting told Sky Cricket, labelling the officials' actions as a "huge blunder".

"That is a huge moment in this game … and something I think has to be investigated."

Relentless bowling from Chris Woakes and Broad, along with Monday's favourable 'overheads', were of course major factors in the sudden difficulty for Australia, who lost their final seven wickets for 70 runs.

Yet a prevailing sense of injustice had materialised well before then.

Khawaja, before he was dismissed by Woakes in a brilliant day-four spell that clinched the England allrounder's Player-of-the-Series award, 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.

"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."

The ICC has been contacted for comment. 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".

This Ashes series, which finished dead-locked at two wins apiece, has seen both teams constantly lobby officials in a bid to get balls replaced.

The bouncer wars that characterised the early part of the series meant they were more frequently knocked out of shape.

Australia captain Pat Cummins agreed Sunday's change had been a turning point.

"It seemed that way," said Cummins. "Davey and Uzzie both walked off and said that new ball's reacting a lot differently to the one they had previously. They said it was a bit harder, a bit more bounce and a bit more nibble off the pitch.

"It's cricket – there's been multiple ball changes all series. Maybe that one made a bit more of a difference than previous ones."

Khawaja, when asked if the ball change had cost Australia the Test match when a win or a draw would have clinched them a first Ashes series win abroad in 22 years, said: "It definitely made it very hard today.

"Yesterday that ball was much different," he added. "Throughout the whole game the ball softened up pretty quickly … It had a massive effect.

"I'm not going to take anything away from England, they won and they deserved it.

"But I think there is a better process to be had and all we can do is to learn. If this happens again in the future and you've got balls that don't match, we've got to figure out … the best process."

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Australia won by two wickets

Second Test: Australia won by 43 runs

Third Test: England won by three wickets

Fourth Test: Match drawn

Fifth Test: England won by 49 runs

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood