The Dukes ball has been a bone of contention all through the first four India vs England Tests, with both teams dissatisfied with its shape and softness at various stages. But ahead of the start of the fifth and final game at The Oval, the tourists seem to have taken the official route, reportedly complaining to the ICC match referee regarding the ball-change protocol as well as purported "preferential treatment". The instance cited specifically is apparently from the third Test at Lord's.
When England were batting during their first innings at Lord’s, the second new ball had to be replaced after going out of shape in just 10 overs. But the ball provided happened to be 30-35 overs old, according to an Indian Express report. The ball-change rule states the replacement ball should be as old as the original one, but the umpires told the Indian team there was no 10-overs-old ball available, according to the report.
“At Lord’s, after about 10 overs, the Dukes ball lost its shape, something that has been happening so often in the series. The ball failed to pass through the rings that the umpires carry on the field to check if the ball is uniformly spherical.
"However, the umpires didn’t have a ball that was 10 overs old, so the Indian team at a crucial moment of the match got a ball that was 30-35 overs old. Check the scoreboard to see how the game changed after that. The bowlers lost their swing and England scored with ease,” an Indian team official was quoted as saying in the report.
Getting the older ball caused the Indian team management to request the match referee to let the visitors revert to the original one, but that wasn't allowed as per the rules, the report further stated.
“When you ask for a ball change, you aren’t told about the age of the replacement you will be getting. At Lord’s, we weren’t told that the replacement would be 30 to 35 overs old. If we were told, we would have continued with the deformed ball that was used for 10 overs. The ICC needs to intervene. This rule needs to be changed,” the official added.
'Preferential Treatment'?
The complaint of preferential treatment to the home team pertains to the new ball-choice convention. As per the convention, the fourth umpire, who is from the host country, comes to the dressing room of the respective team with a box of balls and asks the side to pick two that they will bowl with during the Test. “The match referee, the neutral chief judge of the Test, is not present,” the official was quoted as saying.
The official added that there were cases of the fourth umpire entering the Indian dressing room with a box that had just one ball with a darker shade of red and the rest pure red. It is said that the balls with darker shade swing more.
“I am not alleging anything but when we asked for the darker ball, we were told that was the ball England had selected as their second new ball,” said the official.
“The right thing would be to have this ball selection in the match referee’s room and not in the dressing room with the local umpire as the only official present,” he added.
India trail England 1-2, and must win the fifth Test to square the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series.
