Mark Waugh rips ‘ridiculous’ finish to Australia v Pakistan T20 game

A former Australian cricket star has gone to task over the “stupid” handling and ending to a contest at the SCG on Sunday.

Cricket fans were left furious by the farcical scenes that took place during the opening T20 contest between Australia and Pakistan in Sydney.

The Aussies were coming off a 3-0 domination against Sri Lanka and looking to carry the win streak over against Pakistan.

Unfortunately the heavens had other ideas as the rain tumbled down and wreaked havoc on the contest.

In the end it was ruled a no result with Australia’s innings falling 11 balls short of the required five over minimum.

Fans watching on couldn’t believe the scenes that had unfolded and former Australian star batsmen Mark Waugh joined in the chorus of those left seething.

The weather was a nightmare on Sunday.

“Can you answer me this question. If you play an afternoon game of T20 cricket and it rains, how do you call it off because you ran out of time?” Russ Barwick asked Waugh.

“Ridiculous. The other ridiculous thing is they still had a 20 minute break between innings. That’s just stupid,” Waugh said.

“Cut it back to 10 then you get an extra over each. I don’t know, cricket shoots itself in the foot in those circumstances.”

Along with Waugh’s annoyance, Barwick was just as bemused the game was called off hours before other games normally come to an end at the SCG.

“Why can’t they, they’ve got lights in the joint. Did we have to go to news or something?” Barwick bemoaned.

“It is inexplicable that you can say, the rain was eventually going to stop and you can play games every other day until 10 o’clock at night, but we called this one off at 5.”

Thankfully the weather didn’t play any role in the second T20 contest between the two nations with a Steve Smith batting masterclass guiding the Aussies to a seven-wicket victory.

The third and final game of the series takes place on Friday night in Perth, where the conditions are set to be scorching.

After a two-week break the two sides will return to the pitch when the two-Test series kicks off with the opener being played at The Gabba in Brisbane.

Just who will be in the side for the opening Test remains up in the air with Waugh believing the batting order is far from set.

“The opening spot is still up for grabs, you’ve got Marcus Harris and Joe Burns and the number six spot you’ve got Will Pucovski and Travis Head,” Waugh said.

The Test series gets underway on November 21 in Brisbane with the second Test to be played at Adelaide Oval on November 29.