Ricky Ponting has demanded an investigation into why England was handed a significant advantage in the shape of a shiny replacement ball at a crucial moment in the fifth Ashes Test.

In what proved to be a decisive juncture in Australia’s 49-run loss at The Oval, England convinced umpires to have the ball replaced late on day four when it struck Usman Khawaja in the helmet.

Under cricket’s laws, balls can be replaced if they are damaged or out of shape. But umpires must find a ball that “has had wear comparable” with the previous one.

That did not appear to be the case in London.

While England handed over a ball that was well worn on one side and largely unthreatening, it was given a shinier Dukes ball that still had writing visible on it.

The move left Ponting fuming.

“There is no way in the world you can even look at those two balls there and say in any way they are comparable,” the former Australia captain said on Sky Sports.

“I just cannot fathom how two international umpires that have done that a lot of times before, can actually get it so wrong.”

Even Marcus Trescothick, England’s assistant coach, said the new ball seemed “just a bit harder” than the old one.

“The boys could sense the ball was making a different sound off the bat,” he said.

“Immediately, there’s a bit more life in it. Balls seem to have gone very soft, very fast in this game – and this series. Both captains have tried to change them on numerous occasions.”

The issue was summed up in the 10 overs afterwards, where 38 per cent of balls beat the edge or caused a misleading shot compared to the 16 per cent with the old ball.

In that period Australia also lost the wickets of David Warner and Khawaja to Chris Woakes early on day five, ultimately hurting the tourists as they went from 0-140 to all out for 334 and leave the series level at 2-2.

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Ponting said that was a huge moment in the pivotal final test.

“There was double the amount of movement this morning from yesterday afternoon. It’s a huge blunder that needs to be investigated,” he said.

Khawaja said he immediately raised the issue with umpire Kumar Dharmasena, and believed the switch had dramatically changed the game.

“The big thing was that ball. As soon as they changed that ball, the first over they changed that ball I knew straightaway this ball is very different,” Khawaja told the Nine Network.

“I went straight up to Kumar and said ‘how old is this ball you’ve given them because it feels like it’s about eight overs old’.

“You could see the writing on both sides and it hit my bat so hard.

“I’ve opened in every single innings this Ashes series and I haven’t felt the ball hit my bat as hard as that ball felt when I hit my bat.

“It was disappointing for us because I felt like we had a real stranglehold on that game and today that ball was at 90 overs and it was still hooping around corners.”

An ICC spokesperson has issued a brief statement about the controversy.

“”We do not comment on on-field decisions. As you would expect, umpiring performance is continually evaluated,” they said.

-with AAP