'Second-rate Aussies': New Zealand great rips into T20 flops
Cricket great Simon Doull has offered the Australians a reality check after labelling some of the T20 star's "second-rate" after their collapse against New Zealand.
Australia fell to a heavy loss against the Black Caps in the opening game of a five-game T20 series on Monday night in Christchurch, crumbling to a 53-run defeat.
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On a night where not much went right for the tourists, the opening power play at least did.
Devon Conway led a superb New Zealand fightback and Indian star Ravi Ashwin tweeted the innings came just four days too late.
"Devon Conway is just 4 days late, but what a knock," he wrote.
Devon Conway is just 4 days late, but what a knock 👏👏👏 #AUSvNZ
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) February 22, 2021
He was referring to the Indian Premier League auction, which a number of New Zealanders were overlooked and left without a team.
This prompted commentator and former New Zealand cricketer, Doull, to take aim at the Aussies.
"NZ players have continually been overlooked for second-rate Australians in the IPL for years," he said.
"Seems outside of IPL, big bash is the only comp looked at."
The Australian team included eight players selected in the IPL auction.
Glenn Maxwell went of the largest score of the Aussies at INR 14.25.
New Zealand stars Martin Guptill, Ish Sodhi, Glenn Philipps and Tim Southee were left without teams in the IPL.
Jhye Richardson stars for Aussies
Jhye Richardson was the pick of the Aussie bowlers with 2-31. The young gun was picked up by Punjab Kings.
The 24-year-old knocked over Tim Seifert with his second ball and snared Jimmy Neesham just as the allrounder was starting to impose.
Like his skipper and Mitch Marsh, he refused to blame quarantine for their lacklustre start to the series.
"I felt completely confident in myself and what preparation we have and had full faith in everyone else that they're feeling the same," Richardson added.
with AAP
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