Former Australian skipper Tim Paine didn’t mince his words as he slammed Michael Vaughan over his remark about the Australian team’s batting in the 1st innings of the crucial final test of the Ashes series at the Oval. Pat Cummins-led side has retained the Urn following a draw in the fourth test.
The Australian team is well on track to chase down the historic total of 384 runs in the final innings of the series, as their openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner showed a lot of grit and determination on the rain-curtailed 4th day to build an unbeaten partnership of 135 runs, with both scoring half-century for the team.
Speaking SEN Tassie Breakfast, Tim Paine lashed out at Michael Vaughan over his comments and defended Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne for grinding out hard to play in the tough conditions to take their decent 1st innings at the Oval admitting that Labuschagne not being at his best and hailed him for grinding out hard in the game rather than throwing his wicket way.
“He’s entitled to his opinion and maybe it was the worst he’s ever seen them bat, although I think that’s a fair stretch over his whole career. Given how dark it was, the lights were on, how well England were bowling”.
“There’s no doubt that Marnus is not batting anywhere near his best at the moment. However, it’s a Test match and you’re allowed to fight, you’re allowed to dig in.
“If it gets hard in a Test match, you don’t have to slog, you don’t have to try and belt the ball everywhere. You can actually put a price on your wicket to try and dig deep for your team,” Tim Paine said.
In the 1st innings of the game, Pat Cummins-led side was more defensive in their approach to the game, as the batters failed to put pressure on the England bowlers in the 1st innings. Australian batter was not proactive in their batting in the 1st innings of the game, as none of the batters played with a positive approach to the game.
“That’s what I thought Marnus and Usman were both doing. To say that they’re negative or they’re scared to get out… You’re talking about a bloke who averages 54 in Test cricket and another who averages nearly 50″.
“I don’t think Michael Vaughan was on that level. I know he played more Tests (82) than Marnus, but to say that it’s the worst he’s seen them batting, I completely disagree,” Tim Paine added.
Earlier, Michael Vaughan questioned Australia’s batting approach in the 1st innings stating that he has never seen Australia play with such fear in a game and said that this worst that he has seen Australia batting in a long time as they never play like in any game.
“They are taking home the urn, but I’ve never seen Australia play with so much fear, It’s frustrating when you hear things like that,” Michael Vaughan said.
Australia batted over 103 overs to score 296 runs in the 1st innings, as the batters didn’t try to take on the English bowlers but Australia has a good chance of winning the final game at Oval to win the series after 22 long years in away soil.