Star Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne said that Australia needs an explanation from the ICC concerning Marcus Stoinis’ controversial dismissal against South Africa in their second game of the ODI World Cup in Lucknow. The five-time champions suffered a humiliating loss against the Proteas putting themselves in a spot of bother in the marquee event.
Australia lost to the Proteas in Lucknow in their biggest-ever ODI World Cup defeat, continuing their poor start to the tournament. Pat Cummins’s led side lost the match, as they were completely outplayed in the game by South Africa in all three departments of the game.
Speaking to the media, Marnus Labuschagne asked for clarity on Marcus Stoinis’ dismissal in the game as a small wrong decision in the World Cup can change the complexion of the tournament and admitted that the decision had nothing to do with the result of the game but this decision might be crucial in the future games.
“It was certainly confusing and I’m sure we’ll get clarity or we’re going to seek for clarity, Because it’s a World Cup and we don’t want small decisions that can be avoided to change the outcomes of games.
“Obviously in the situation we’re in it’s hard to say that it was going to change the outcome today, but for the future, you certainly want to make sure we get them right.” Marnus Labuschagne said.
There was some dispute around the outcome of the game when Stoinis was given caught behind by an umpire when the ball touched his palm on the way to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock. The third umpire, Richard Kettleborough, determined that even though the allrounder’s glove was not on the bat, it was still in contact with the other hand grasping the handle to decide his dismissal in the game.
We Certainly Have Played A Lot But I’m Not Here To Sit And Make Excuses – Marnus Labuschagne
Marcus Labuschagne denied that a lengthy lead-up to the competition may have contributed to the problem, noting that the team may need to win six of its remaining seven games to advance to the semi-finals and admitted that they were poor on the field against South Africa
“We certainly have played a lot but I’m not here to sit and make excuses, We’re playing the World Cup for Australia. We have to be ready, we have to be better than that.
“It’s hard to put your finger on it. We’re one of the best fielding sides in the world, we pride ourselves on that. And we just didn’t seem to get it right today,” Marnus Labuschagne added.
The Australian team had a day to forget on the field in Lucknow, as the team dropped more than five chances in the field, which led to their failure in the game, and the Pat Cummins-led side looked off-colour with both bat and ball against the mighty Proteas on Thursday and they will look to turn things around in their next game against Sri Lanka.