Australia’s cricketers are drained by all the “noise” surrounding their sport, allrounder Marcus Stoinis says.
Stoinis took three wickets in Australia’s seven-run win against South Africa on Friday night, setting up a series-decider in Hobart on Sunday.
“The amount of noise going on, people are drained,” Stoinis said after the win in Adelaide.
“We’re cooked right now and we just won.
“Maybe that is part of it, the mental drain. That is what we have got to work on, that is what we have got to get past.
“And this is a good step forward. You have got to learn.
“That is part of the art of playing international cricket is dealing with noise.”
Australia restricted to South Africa 9-224, chasing 232 to win.
But the Australians were again all out – the seventh time in eight games they have been bowled out.
“Disappointed,” Stoinis said of the batting effort.
“We work every day trying to hone our skills.
“And I personally think there is so much noise going on, a cricket game moves so fans and you can’t possibly concentrate as well as you would like to with all the noise.
“We have got to start really internalising all that sort of stuff and focusing on what’s important for us.”
Stoinis banked his second-best ODI bowling figures, 3-35, in a victory he hoped would build momentum.
“It’s a good feeling to have a win but at the end of the day it’s only one,” he said.
“With how much there has been going on in cricket, it’s good to just get a win.”
And he lauded the spirit of his teammates in a period of off-field disarray at Cricket Australia headquarters.
“All the guys that are in that team fight so hard and want to be there so much, train so hard and think about cricket every day,” Stoinis said.
“I know obviously we haven’t got the results that maybe the media and the Australian public would want but these guys, we all fight.
“The character of the individuals speaks for itself.”
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