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They say being the Australian men’s Test cricket captain is the second-most important position in the country, and just like being Prime Minister there’s always going to be criticism.
Captain Steve Smith has already copped his fair share in his short tenure at the top. The latest comes from former Test cricketer Rodney Hogg on SEN radio, who labelled Smith’s declaration on the fifth day against New Zealand “boring”.
LISTEN TO HOGG’S ASSESSMENT IN THE VIDEO ABOVE
“Steven Smith won’t come up with a high winning percentage as captain if he’s going to come up with these boring declarations,” Hogg said.
According to Hogg, the expectation from fans is entertainment, not just playing for statistics.
Despite the WACA pitch offering hardly any assistance to bowlers into the fifth day, Hogg thought leaving New Zealand with 321 runs to chase in 48 overs was ridiculous.
“That last day was set up after going through batsmen being on top and it was set up for some sort of result – you’ve got to give a bit to get a bit back,” he said.
Hogg added that he thought Australia’s attitude from the start of the fifth day was not aggressive enough to set up an earlier declaration.
“I’m not saying give Test matches away but Mitchell Marsh is picked in the side to be an aggressive batsman at number six. You could see by his attitude that he was sent out to play himself in.”
Australia, of course, had a 1-0 lead in the series and the counter-argument is that it was up to New Zealand to make the running in the game.
What do you think Roarers, are series results not enough, do sportsmen and women need to think about entertainment as well, or is Rodney Hogg being too harsh on Australia’s new captain?
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