Team of the Month: a May-born World Cricket XI
This series’ twelfth and final team has a distinct West Indian flavour at the top of the order, and a domineering captain.
Former Australian coach Darren Lehmann has hit out on social media in response to fans being handed pieces of sandpaper on their way to Australia’s opening ODI loss to England at The Oval.
Lehmann tweeted “your (sic) better than that?” to British journalist Alison Mitchell after she posted a photo of sandpaper four and six cards being handed out to the crowd.
Your better than that @AlisonMitchell ? https://t.co/K0cRLyJlgh
— Darren Lehmann (@darren_lehmann) June 13, 2018
The pieces of “Australian ball-tampering grade sandpaper” were part of an advertising stunt and it’s understood 5000 sandpaper cards were confiscated in the ground.
It was an unsubtle reference to Australia’s sandpaper ball-tampering scandal as they played their first international match since that ill-fated South African tour which led to long bans on skipper Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and batsman Cameron Bancroft.
Rookie Australian captain Tim Paine admitted before the game that his new-look team expected to cop plenty of flak from the English crowds.
Paine and Shaun Marsh were the only two players in the starting line-up that played in the infamous Cape Town Test, and the skipper indicated there hadn’t been much ribbing from the sell-out crowd aimed at his players.
“I’m pretty lucky being in the middle I can’t hear anything,” Paine said.
“I haven’t spoken to the (other guys) but there wasn’t any talk of copping too much stick out there which is nice.
“Maybe if we win a few games they might.”
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
This series’ twelfth and final team has a distinct West Indian flavour at the top of the order, and a domineering captain.
Mitch Marsh has been appointed as Australia's men's Twenty20 captain, set to lead a squad to the World Cup that does not include Steve…
Australia are set to turn their back on rising star Jake Fraser-McGurk’s whirlwind IPL form and drop Steve Smith in their T20 World Cup…
It seems franchise cricket has forgotten about the great battle between bat and ball. In fact, this season in the IPL there is no battle at all.
The mammoth rise of Jake Fraser-McGurk - his enormous potential and the destructive shot-making that he possesses makes him a very tempting option.
Test great Steve Smith is to play for Washington Freedom in the second season of Major League Cricket as the Australian influence in the…