AUS vs ENG: Dukes Ball Manufacturer To Investigate The Ball Change Saga During 5th Ashes Test

Dilip Jajodia, the manufacturer of Dukes ball, has dropped a major bomb as he said that he himself will be investigating the ball change saga in the recently concluded fifth Test of the Ashes 2023 at The Oval in England. 

Ashes 2023 wasn’t short of drama at all with the last and the most talked about incident taking place at The Oval. During the Day 5 of the last game, umpires changed the ball, of which pictures circulated like a flash and by the look of pictures the changed ball was nowhere close to the damaged ball with what England was bowling on Day 4. 

England captain Ben Stokes raised concerns over the ball during the fag end of Day 4 changed the ball and with just 11 deliveries possible due to the rain on that day after that, many didn’t get the idea of how the ball will be playing. However, in the morning sessions, it moved as if it was a fresh new ball. 

The ball had a lot of moments and troubled Australian batters, who look clueless, and ended up losing three wickets and eventually lost the game by a margin of 49 runs, which saw the series ending in a draw by the margin of 2-2. 

Dilip Jajodia said that it has affected his name a lot and he will be checking the whole saga.

Speaking to News Corp, he elaborated: “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 (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.”

AUS vs ENG: It’s a huge blunder and as I said it needs to be investigated – Ricky Ponting On ball change 

Ricky Ponting also shared his verdict on the ball change Sage called it a blunder and said that it’s a huge moment in the game and it needs a proper investigation.

He explained: “That is a huge moment in this game potentially a huge moment in the test match and something I think actually has to be investigated whether there was the right condition balls in the box or the umpires have just blazed a picked 1 out of that they told the ok to use. 

“The conditions were perfect for bowling this morning but what I saw last night with the old ball would not have done anywhere near as much as what the new ball did this morning.  Double the amount of movement this morning from yesterday afternoon same movement and swing,  I think it’s a huge blunder and as I said it needs to be investigated,” he concluded.