‘Oh no’: Mark Waugh in mortifying stitch up as table turned

Aussie cricket legend Mark Waugh must have wanted a hole to crawl into after being the victim of one of the great stitch-ups.

Aussie cricket legend Mark Waugh must have wanted a hole to crawl into after being the victim of one of the great stitch-ups on Day 4 of the Boxing Day Test.

Waugh turned a flamethrower on Pakistan after the tourists butchered a chance to wipe Australia out on Day 3 with a series of fielding blunders

Australia was on the cusp of a rare Test defeat on home soil after falling to 4/16 when Mitch Marsh edged a delivery from Aamer Jamal to first slip, only for Abdullah Shafique to drop a sitter of a catch. Australia would have been left reeling at 5/46 if Shafique had taken it.

Watch Australia vs Pakistan on Kayo Sports. Every Test match Live with no ad breaks during play. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >

It wasn’t the first chance Shafique has dropped this series and Waugh said he had to be taken out of the slips cordon.

“I think you’ve got to get Shafique out of there,” Waugh, widely recognised as one of Australia’s greatest slips fielders, said on Fox Cricket.

“He has not looked like catching one all series. He’s hung on to one, only just. At some stage you’ve got to get the hook out and say, ‘Out of there son’.

“It’s just like a crocodile jaw trying to catch a ball. It’s unfortunate but you’ve got to get him out of there. His confidence is so low at the moment. How’s he going to catch the next one?

“You’ve just got to get him out of there and get someone else in. Babar’s a good catcher, he should be in at slip. Shafique, go and have a roam in the paddock out wide.”

Abdullah Shafique drops a sitter that would have put Pakistan on top. Photo: Fox Cricket.

You can’t drop those at first slip. Photo: Fox Cricket.

Abdullah Shafique's drop of Mitch Marsh could prove very costly.

Pakistan legend Wasim Akram also called for Shafique to be moved into the out-field.

Marsh (96) and Steve Smith (50) proceeded to put on a 153-run stand that likely put the game out of Pakistan’s reach.

Waugh on Day 4 again critiqued Shafique’s technique during a segment with Fox Cricket colleagues Mark Howard and Michael Vaughan out in the middle of the MCG before the day’s play.

Delivering a masterclass on slip fielding, Waugh was stitched up when Vaughan began throwing balls to his right hand side, forcing the suited-up 58-year-old to dive sharply.

One low catching opportunity was beyond Waugh, who put it down — triggering giggles from his colleagues.

Dropped! Mark Waugh with egg meeting face. Photo: Fox Cricket.

When speaking from the commentary box alongside Kerry O’Keeffe and Ian Smith, the giggles turned into shameless guffaws as the larrikin former cricketer’s took pot shots at the former Test batsman.

Waugh finished his career with 181 Test catches and 108 ODI catches.

None of that mattered on Friday.

“Oh no,” Waugh said as O’Keeffe and Smith began discussing the dropped catch.

“I thought I moved alright. I was good when it was close to me.

“The one I dropped it actually hit me high in the hand. I pre-meditated it actually.”

He said he was still “disappointed” he couldn’t hold the catch.

“I was expecting Shafique to come over and speak to you about it actually,” Smith said.

O’Keeffe’s replies left Smith in stitches.

“That would have been gold if Abdullah Shafique had come over and said, ‘Excuse me Mark, I noticed the way you moved a little slow there’,” O’Keeffe giggled

Ian Smith was a mess. Photo: Fox Cricket.

“Bradman was judged on his last innings. And you’ll be judged on your last catch because of this sucker. Lucky to get a hand to it.”

At stumps Australia were 6/187 with a lead of 241, leaving Pakistan to wonder what may have been.

Shafique’s teammates, meanwhile, leapt to his defence after the opener put down his second sitter.

Shafique also dropped David Warner early in Australia’s first innings before the opener went on to put on 90 runs with Usman Khawaja.

Shafique swapped from first to second slip with Salman Ali Agha in the final session.

Hamza insisted Shafique’s place was in the cordon despite his difficult tour in the field.

“Abdullah is one of the best fielders in Pakistan, and dropped catches are part of the game. It’s OK,” he said when asked if the bowlers wanted to see a change in personnel behind the wicket.

— with NCA NewsWire