3 most controversial moments of Ashes 2023 ft. Ollie Robinson
A 2-2 result in Ashes 2023 was arguably a perfect reflection of how the series panned out, with both England and Australia throwing punches at each other over the entire duration of six weeks.
The series had its fair share of banters, with words exchanged between the players of the two teams as well as former cricketers. However, the real spice in the Ashes was provided by the controversial moments on the field.
These moments brought the emotions out of both England and Australia players and added a lot of life and context to their already ferocious Ashes rivalry. On that note, let's take a look at three such moments:
#3 Ollie Robinson's send-off to Usman Khawaja
It seems like a long time ago when England pacer Ollie Robinson gave Australian opener Usman Khawaja a pretty aggressive send-off in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston.
Khawaja had scored a sensational hundred and that naturally frustrated the England players. Robinson cleaned up Khawaja with a brilliant yorker, but his reaction after taking the wicket was deemed a bit unnecessary and over-the-top by many in the cricketing fraternity.
When Robinson was asked about the same in a press conference, he doubled down on it, taking a sly dig at former cricketer Ricky Ponting and the Australian team of the earlier years. This certainly didn't go down well with Ponting as well as other former Australian cricketers as they slammed Robinson for his comments.
#2 Jonny Bairstow's stumping and the 'Spirit of Cricket'
Jonny Bairstow's wicket on Day 5 of the second Ashes Test sparked a pretty massive 'Spirit of Cricket' debate. Wicketkeeper Alex Carey had noticed that Bairstow kept leaving the crease after facing every delivery and took advantage of it.
After ducking on the last ball of Cameron Green's over, Bairstow casually began to stride to the middle of the pitch, assuming that the ball was dead due to the end of the over. However, Carey collected the ball and immediately threw back at the stumps, finding Bairstow short of the crease.
The Australian fielders started celebrating and the home crowd was livid when the third umpire adjudged Bairstow stumped. The Australians faced the heat while heading back to the dressing room as well as Khawaja, who had an altercation with some members in the Long Room.
The MCC later issued a statement of apology and also claimed that the suspected members were suspended pending investigation. Later, Nathan Lyon revealed in an interview that Bairstow was among a few players from both teams who almost had a go at each other in the lunchroom.
#1 The mysterious ball-change
The latest controversy in Ashes 2023 was certainly the change of ball that took place during Day 4 of the final Test at The Oval. Chasing 384 runs to win, Australia got off to a stunning start, with both Khawaja and David Warner adding a century-stand for the first wicket.
In the 37th over of the innings, Khawaja got hit on his helmet by a delivery from Mark Wood. While the southpaw had to change his helmet, the umpires Joel Wilson and Kumar Dharmasena seemed convinced that the ball had gone out of shape and changed it.
To the surprise of a few commentators like Ricky Ponting, the changed ball looked a lot newer than the one that was 37 overs old, with significant movement compared to the former. This arguably made a lot of difference as Australia's batting collapsed and they ended up losing by 49 runs on the final day.
It enraged a number of Australian supporters who called out the 'Spirit of cricket' debate once again. Ponting also hoped there was an 'investigation' as to why such a newish ball was chosen.
The Aussies still haven't managed to win an Ashes series on English soil since 2001.