AUS vs ENG: "Changed Shape Of The Game" - Andrew McDonald On Ball Change In 5th Test

While the Ashes are done and dusted, the ball change that took place on day four of the fifth and final Test continues to be a major talking point. Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has now also expressed his surprise over the impact the changed ball had on the game.

Set a target of 384 runs, Australia were off to a solid start with their openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja sharing a century-plus stand. Things, however, took a turn for the worse for Australia soon after the ball was changed in the 37th over. The umpires decided to change the ball when a Mark Wood bouncer hit Khawaja on the helmet.

While the rule states that there should be a like-for-like replacement for the damaged ball, the ball that was chosen looked considerably newer. Rain brought a premature end to the fourth day but England bowlers made the most of the ball on the fifth day.

Khawaja and Warner could add only 5 runs to the overnight score of 135 before Chris Woakes removed both of them in a space of one run. Marnus Labuschagne also failed to get going and edged a Wood delivery to the slip. Steve Smith and Travis Head, however, stopped the rot and brought the chase back on track.

Andrew McDonald disappointed with ball change:

Australia needed 120 runs with seven wickets in hands before they suffered a collapse after a two-hour rain delay. Moeen Ali ran through the Australia middle-order and the tourists were eventually all out for 334 runs as the series ended in a draw.

“I’ve never seen tactics shift so dramatically on the back of a decision,” Andrew McDonald said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. “Went from catchers in front of the wicket to behind the wicket, and there’s no doubt in some ways changed the shape of the game and the tactics within the game.

“So I will say that ball change did have a significant bearing on the tactics, the way that England went about it. But in saying that, I think we still should have been able to navigate that.

“There were two clumps where we lost 3 for 30 and 5 for 50, and that’s part of us owning it. The umpires are out there to make a decision and they had a box of balls to choose from, and they made the best decision at that time from what they saw was there,” he added.

While Australia have retained the urn, Andrew McDonald expressed his disappointment over not being able to win the series. The team from Down Under has not won the Ashes in England since 2001. They had a golden opportunity to end their long wait in the recently-concluded series after winning the first two Tests but failed to capitalize on it.

“We didn’t quite achieve what we set out to achieve. We clearly wanted to come here and win the Ashes but the cricket we played, the cricket both teams played was fascinating.

“I think the whole series was fascinating. People should be proud of what they’ve been able to achieve, even if we didn’t quite get to where we wanted to in winning the Ashes,” said Andrew McDonald.