Former captain Michael Clarke has slammed the decision of Cricket Australia (CA) to rest key players for yesterday’s third ODI against Pakistan.
Australia ODI captain Pat Cummins as well as star players Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith did not feature in the series-deciding final ODI against Pakistan Perth in order to prepare for the Border-Gavaskar Test series against India.
Josh Inglis stepped in to lead the Australian side, who suffered an eight-wicket defeat in the third ODI in Perth, losing their first home series against Pakistan since 2002.
Notably, Pakistan lost the first match of the three-match series by two wickets, however, they staged an impressive comeback to win the series 2-1.
After Australia’s defeat, Michael Clarke voiced his disappointment and noted that there was an 11-day gap between the third ODI against Pakistan and the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
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“I’m just a bit confused. So 11 days between now and the first Test [in Perth], why can’t the Aussie boys who are part of this Test series play in the [third] one-dayer” the former captain questioned during a radio show on Monday.
The 2015 World Cup-winning captain expressed that the series was levelled and the third match held significant importance.
However, the cricket board seemed indifferent, showing a lack of enthusiasm for prioritizing the ODI series.
“If Australia had won the first two games, then you can understand why they rest their big fish, but it was [the] series on the line,” Michael Clarke stated.
“You can’t expect the fans to want to come and watch one-day cricket,” he added. “I feel like we obviously don’t care about losing that series. If you’re not going to care, we’re not going to care.”
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