‘Utter embarrassment’: Cricket world in disbelief over WBBL ‘disgrace’
Australian cricket has been left a laughing stock after “utterly embarrassing” scenes unfolded as the Sydney Thunder were robbed of victory.
The cricket world is in disbelief after farcical scenes saw the Sydney Thunder robbed of victory on Friday night.
In scenes that left commentators shaking their heads, the match against the Strikers in Adelaide was called off when the visitors were three runs short of victory.
The visitors were 0-43 off 2.5 overs and were moments away from chasing down Adelaide’s total of 2-45 off their five overs in a rain-shortened match before the umpires made the call for ground staff to come onto the field, NewsWire reports.
Heavy rain threatened to force players from the field in the second over, but conditions eased greatly when the call was made for the game to be abandoned.
Thunder players and coaches appeared confused and frustrated with the decision that leaves them three points behind fourth place going into Sunday’s Sydney derby.
“I’m a bit disappointed,” Thunder captain Phoebe Litchfield told Channel Seven after the game having blasted eight boundaries in her unbeaten knock of 38 off 15 balls.
“It’s a shame. The fact that we got on and it was a really entertaining game…it’s pretty disappointing that we didn’t have a full game.
“Both the Strikers and us needed a win so we were pretty keen to get the two points (when we discussed the weather before the game).
“The ground staff did an amazing job to get the ground up and running. For all that work, it’s disappointing to not get a result.
“It’s cricket at the end of the day. It’s a weird game we play.”
Cricket commentators were far more scathing.
Katey Martin said on Channel 7: “It’s an embarrassment and they could have done things a lot better than we have (seen) tonight.”
Commentator Alister Nicholson said: “That is an utter embarrassment that’s taken place here.
“There is not a drop of rain at the moment, that game was within a whisker of being determined and the result was completely clear and the Sydney Thunder have been robbed of victory.”
He also called it “farcical”.
“These are scenes that beggar belief,” the former ABC caller said.
Former Aussie Test batter Callum Ferguson said: “I’m absolutely blown away. It’s actually embarrassing for the game.
“I’m absolutely flabbergasted right now. It’s unacceptable in my eyes.
“I cannot believe we’ve gone through what we did.”
Sydney Thunder assistant coach Daniel Smith was seen looking furious on the boundary rope. A Channe7 boundary repoprter said players and staff were “absolutely irate and confused”.
One cricket commentator called it a “disgrace” in a post on X.
There were genuine fears that the game would be abandoned after heavy rain in Adelaide washed out the Heat’s clash with the Sixers earlier in the day.
But ground staff did well to salvage a shortened contest with play getting underway after a two-hour delay.
Strikers opener Laura Wolvaardt (22 off 13) got the innings off to a flyer before skipper Tahlia McGrath (12 off six) whacked a couple of boundaries in the final over to give them something to defend.
That should’ve been a tricky target given Adelaide’s quality attack, but Litchfield made a mockery of the chase to celebrate her big pay day at the WPL auction with brutal barrage of boundaries,
Litchfield took 22 runs off the second over, with the opener blasting four boundaries off the first four balls of Darcie Brown’s over.
The Aussie star went for $206,000 at the auction and justified the big money with a knock that didn’t get the result it deserved.
— with NewsWire
Originally published as ‘Utter embarrassment’: Cricket world in disbelief over WBBL ‘disgrace’
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