Australian cricketer Marcus Stoinis has sparked fury after seemingly accusing Pakistan paceman Muhammad Hasnain of having an illegal bowling action during the Southern Brave’s seven-wicket loss to the Oval Invincibles.
Stoinis top-scored for the Brave on Sunday evening, dismissed by Hasnain for 37 (27) after sharing a 55-run partnership with Captain James Vince for the second wicket.
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The 32-year-old all-rounder attempted to slap a 142km/h short delivery down the ground, instead gifting England’s Will Jacks a regulation catch at mid-off.
But as Stoinis made his way towards the pavilion, he implied the 22-year-old’s bowling action was illegitimate by miming a chucking motion – a not-so-subtle jab at his recent suspension from the sport.
In February, Hasnain was found guilty of having an illegal bowling action after a Big Bash League umpire reported him during the Sydney Thunder’s victory over the Adelaide Strikers.
Hasnain underwent biomechanics tests in late January, with the findings from the Lahore University of Management Sciences confirming his action breached the ICC’s 15-degree limit for elbow extension.
The Pakistani quick has since been declared fit to bowl again after undergoing remedial work, and Stoinis could face disciplinary action for the misdemeanour.
The Age’s Daniel Brettig tweeted: “This is poor. There’sa system in place to regulate bowling actions and it doesn’t include publicly questioning your opponent’s integrity.”
The Times’ Elizabeth Ammon posted: “Wonder if Stoinis will be in trouble for this implication.”
Stoinis is not the first Australian cricketer to accuse Hasnain of chucking; During last summer’s second Sydney Smash contest at the SCG, Sixers captain Moises Henriques yelled, “Nice throw, mate” to Hasnain after he unleashed a bouncer.
“Right from the first game he played and through to the tournament, it seemed that there was a few question marks there,” Henriques told reporters at the time.
“I didn’t have the protractor out.
“I guess from my point of view, we already knew it had been reported. I feel like the umpires are a little bit hamstrung in terms of what they can actually do on the cricket field, because they’re so worried about backlash and public opinion.
“I could definitely argue that what he was doing was not in the spirit of the game.
“And I also agree that possibly I got a little bit emotional and frustrated and I was a bit overt with my comments out in the middle. But you know, I called a spade a spade and that was my opinion.
“From afar, he seems like a good kid… hopefully he can get that action right and pass the test and hopefully he can have a long career.
“As long as he’s playing within the rules of the game that everyone else has to abide by.
“Good luck to him. It looks like he could have a long future if that all gets sorted.”
Hasnain has represented Pakistan in eight ODIs and 18 T20Is since making his international debut in 2019, taking 29 wickets at 33.68.
The Invincibles chased the 138-run target with 18 balls to spare on Sunday, thanks largely to a blistering century from Jacks – the second hundred in the competition’s short history.
The 23-year-old smacked an undefeated 108 off 48 deliveries at The Oval, clearing the boundary rope on eight occasions.
Hasnain finished with figures of 1/27 off 15 deliveries, while Invincible teammate Reece Topley claimed 3/24 to help restrict the Brave to 6/137 from their 100 balls.
Elsewhere, Australian superstar Glenn Maxwell scored an unbeaten 43 (25) and snared a wicket in the London Spirit’s victory over the Northern Superchargers in Leeds.
The Brave will next face the Manchester Originals at Southampton’s Ageas Bowl on Friday morning AEST, with the first ball scheduled for 4pm.
Australian cricketer Marcus Stoinis has sparked fury after seemingly accusing Pakistan paceman Muhammad Hasnain of having an illegal bowling action during the Southern Brave’s seven-wicket loss to the Oval Invincibles.
Stoinis top-scored for the Brave on Sunday evening, dismissed by Hasnain for 37 (27) after sharing a 55-run partnership with Captain James Vince for the second wicket.
Watch The Hundred. Every Match Live & Exclusive to Fox Sports on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
The 32-year-old all-rounder attempted to slap a 142km/h short delivery down the ground, instead gifting England’s Will Jacks a regulation catch at mid-off.
But as Stoinis made his way towards the pavilion, he implied the 22-year-old’s bowling action was illegitimate by miming a chucking motion – a not-so-subtle jab at his recent suspension from the sport.
In February, Hasnain was found guilty of having an illegal bowling action after a Big Bash League umpire reported him during the Sydney Thunder’s victory over the Adelaide Strikers.
Hasnain underwent biomechanics tests in late January, with the findings from the Lahore University of Management Sciences confirming his action breached the ICC’s 15-degree limit for elbow extension.
The Pakistani quick has since been declared fit to bowl again after undergoing remedial work, and Stoinis could face disciplinary action for the misdemeanour.
The Age’s Daniel Brettig tweeted: “This is poor. There’sa system in place to regulate bowling actions and it doesn’t include publicly questioning your opponent’s integrity.”
The Times’ Elizabeth Ammon posted: “Wonder if Stoinis will be in trouble for this implication.”
Stoinis is not the first Australian cricketer to accuse Hasnain of chucking; During last summer’s second Sydney Smash contest at the SCG, Sixers captain Moises Henriques yelled, “Nice throw, mate” to Hasnain after he unleashed a bouncer.
“Right from the first game he played and through to the tournament, it seemed that there was a few question marks there,” Henriques told reporters at the time.
“I didn’t have the protractor out.
“I guess from my point of view, we already knew it had been reported. I feel like the umpires are a little bit hamstrung in terms of what they can actually do on the cricket field, because they’re so worried about backlash and public opinion.
“I could definitely argue that what he was doing was not in the spirit of the game.
“And I also agree that possibly I got a little bit emotional and frustrated and I was a bit overt with my comments out in the middle. But you know, I called a spade a spade and that was my opinion.
“From afar, he seems like a good kid… hopefully he can get that action right and pass the test and hopefully he can have a long career.
“As long as he’s playing within the rules of the game that everyone else has to abide by.
“Good luck to him. It looks like he could have a long future if that all gets sorted.”
Hasnain has represented Pakistan in eight ODIs and 18 T20Is since making his international debut in 2019, taking 29 wickets at 33.68.
The Invincibles chased the 138-run target with 18 balls to spare on Sunday, thanks largely to a blistering century from Jacks – the second hundred in the competition’s short history.
The 23-year-old smacked an undefeated 108 off 48 deliveries at The Oval, clearing the boundary rope on eight occasions.
Hasnain finished with figures of 1/27 off 15 deliveries, while Invincible teammate Reece Topley claimed 3/24 to help restrict the Brave to 6/137 from their 100 balls.
Elsewhere, Australian superstar Glenn Maxwell scored an unbeaten 43 (25) and snared a wicket in the London Spirit’s victory over the Northern Superchargers in Leeds.
The Brave will next face the Manchester Originals at Southampton’s Ageas Bowl on Friday morning AEST, with the first ball scheduled for 4pm.
Cameron Smith’s imminent defection is being viewed as the biggest “coup” to date for LIV in their quest for legitimacy.
Until now, The PGA Tour and its supporters could argue that the rebel league is merely a competition where washed up pros go to fill their bank accounts. No longer.
While tour veterans Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia were the initial names linked to the financially lucrative competition, the domino effect can’t be denied.
Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson – three of the biggest names on the US PGA – have taken the money and left.
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Cameron Smith’s pending defection to LIV Golf has been met with a mixed reception. Photo: Getty ImagesSource: AFP
Smith’s signing however is being seen as a game-changer.
At 28, he is only now coming into the peak of his powers, he is the most recent major winner and he overran Rory McIlroy, the biggest name in world golf since Tiger Woods, to claim the Open Championship.
Nonetheless, Smith’s pending defection, which the Australian remained coy about ahead of the FedEx Cup playoff opener, hasn’t been filled with overwhelming excitement and a popping of corks.
Indeed, there’s an overarching sense of disappointment, inevitability and sadness about Smith’s likely defection; financial security has won over legacy and moral compass.
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Writing for the UK Telegraph – the same publication that broke Smith’s defection on a deal worth more than $AU140 million – chiefs sports writer Oliver Brown emphasized that Smith’s defection “might” capture an audience that eventually garners a TV deal.
“His signing is arguably the Saudis’ most significant coup to date, and could represent a tipping point for the competition – a moment where a gilded freakshow turned into a sporting event which might demand the world’s attention,” Brown wrote.
At the heart of the appeal of LIV Golf, Brown hit the nail on his head when he revealed the ridiculous sums of money today’s stars were forgoing by resisting a move from the PGA Tour.
“Against this backdrop, you can see why the initial contact from Greg Norman, LIV’s ringmaster, became an offer Smith could not refuse,” he wrote.
“(Henrick) Stenson, a 46-year-old who has failed to reach the weekend in seven of his last nine majors, is the type of player he should be beating for breakfast. And yet the Swede, quickly forgetting his defenestration of him as Ryder Cup captain, earned more for a glorified three-day exhibition at Bedminster than Smith did for winning the 150th Open at the Home of Golf.
“From Smith’s perspective, this is an imbalance that urgently needs correcting. If he takes home the maximum loot of £3.93 million on his LIV debut in Boston next month, he would eclipse even the £2.98 million he earned at the Players Championship in May, in what was then the richest prize ever offered by a single golf tournament. Why should the leading man tolerate making less than some forgotten members of the chorus line?”
Cam Smith and others set to join LIV | 01:30
Brown continued by highlighting the ridiculous Saudi-funded money on offer but said the sheer financial sums couldn’t, at least at this point, match the theatre, drama and excitement on show at the PGA and DP World Tours.
“The numbers are so absurd, the golf itself has been rendered a sideshow. When Stenson holed the decisive putt at Bedminster, for the grandest payday of his career, the moment was greeted by the faintest rustle of polite applause. Even the winner himself did not look unduly bothered,” Brown wrote in The Telegraph.
“Here lies the sadness in Smith’s defection. With his talent in the fullest bloom, he deserves to be playing in front of the largest galleries, for the highest stakes. LIV ultimately offers him neither. It is a realm with all the money but none of the prestige. Smith, you sense, understands what true glory in golf means. As he gave his acceptance speech on the 18th green at St Andrews, the Claret Jug in his hand, the quaver in his voice suggested he was genuinely overwhelmed.
“For Smith to be swapping such moments for hollow, show-me-the-money exercises is a cause for lament. At one level, his departure from him in his prime from him demonstrates the scale of the Saudis’ ambitions. But at another, it is the grimmest possible reflection of the schism they have wrought.”
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Australia’s Cameron Smith’s decision not to answer whether he is joining LIV has been described as “cowardly” and “lame”. Photo: Getty ImagesSource: AFP
At the USATodayAndy Nesbitt, was far more scathing.
In particular, the publication took aim at Smith’s decision to deflect questions around his future and offer no definitive answer on whether he intended to shift allegiances.
“In doing so, (Smith) tarnished a reputation that just a few weeks ago was one of the best in professional golf,” Nesbitt wrote.
“Smith didn’t deny it and he didn’t confirm it, he just said he had “no comment” on that, which is a really lame way of ducking the question while also pretty much confirming the report to be true.”
Nesbitt went as far as saying his responses were “cowardly.”
“But to not come out with a definitive answer when asked about it before the start of the PGA Tour playoffs is a pretty cowardly thing to do.
“Now it’s a little harder to cheer for a guy who just a few weeks ago was the coolest golfer in the world.”
Terse Cam refuses to address LIV rumors | 00:43
Thomas Kershaw from The Timestoo, wrote that Smith’s pending defection was the competition’s “biggest coup”.
“It has been very easy up until now to dismiss the gimmicks of LIV’s format — featuring shotgun starts, 54 holes and no cuts — as a watered-down exhibition lacking the essentials of elite competition. Critics could point to the players who shrugged off missed putts knowing their money was guaranteed beforehand and the rebel series was derived as a refuge for those who had cashed in on the twilight of their careers,” Kershaw wrote.
“The signing of Smith is a significant riposte to that narrative. LIV may already have a horde of relatively recent major champions but Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka have battled injuries and indifferent form while Phil Mickelson still seems a ghost of his former self. Smith, 28, is the first to defect who is not just at the peak of the game but still entering the prime of his own.
He continued: “Smith remains LIV’s biggest coup to date and also symbolizes another aspect of their revolt that could bring considerable success. Smith had been vocal in urging the PGA Tour to bring a major golf event back to Australia but while those calls fell on deaf ears, LIV — and Norman — have been only too keen to hear them. When LIV expands into a 14-tournament league next year, it is reportedly scheduled to stop in Sydney in April, where Smith is expected to feature in an all-Australian team.”
Australian Cameron Smith is coming under renewed scrutiny ahead of the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind on August 10, 2022 in Memphis. Photo: Getty ImagesSource: AFP
Closer to home, James Erskine, the former manager of the late Shane Warne, who also managed Greg Norman in the past, told The Sydney Morning Herald the emergence of LIV was “destabilizing”, but didn’t accept the argument that players had blood on their hands given the competition is being backed by Saudi Arabia.
“It’s destabilizing the fabric of professional golf. I’m on the board of the PGA of Australia and we have to look after all professionals and professionals coming up. They all start as amateurs somewhere and are nurtured through the pathway so they could play golf, and then they get cards and qualify professionally,” he said. “So many people do business with Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, where they have very different rules and regulations and different respect for women.
“But you can name just about any company and they will probably have a link to Saudi Arabia, Rolex, Range Rover, Rolls Royce, Ferrari. Everyone’s doing business with them, so I think it’s very unfair to turn around and say because you’re a professional golfer, you shouldn’t deal with Saudi Arabia.”
Meanwhile, Erskine said Smith would be welcomed to play in Australia even if he joins LIV Golf.
Nick Kyrgios’ career-best run of form has prompted an inevitable debate around one big question — is he a legitimate contender to win the US Open?
The 27-year-old Australian made history by winning both the singles and doubles titles at the ATP event in Washington, a month after he reached his first grand slam final at Wimbledon.
Kyrgios’ ranking has jumped to 37 and a strong performance at next week’s Montreal Masters could clinch him an all-important seeding at the year’s final grand slam in New York, starting later this month.
The enigmatic Aussie caught many by surprise with his run at the All England Club and how he’s since backed up that performance has prompted discussion about whether Kyrgios may now be emerging as the grand slam force many have always thought he could become.
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Kyrgios wins hearts with gift for fan | 00:37
Former world No.1 Andy Roddick is among those who believe the hype is real when it comes to Kyrgios’ prospects at Flushing Meadows, where Wimbledon champion Nick Kyrgios and injury-riddle Rafael Nadal may be absent.
“It’s a big, big deal to me that he goes into Washington, which is a pretty big event in the lead-up to the US Open,” Roddick told Steve Weissman of Tennis Channel on The Rich Eisen Show.
“Brutal conditions….To go through singles and doubles and not to tap out mentally or physically is a big, big sign.
“I think it puts him into the top two, maybe three, favorites for the US Open.”
Stuart Fraser, writing for The Times, said many of Kyrgios’ rivals will be relieved he is on course to be seeded at the US Open — removing him as a nightmare early round potential opponent — and agreed Kyrgios was up as a legitimate force in the singles.
“Whether Kyrgios is seeded or not at the US Open, he will be considered a contender after showing at Wimbledon that he has what it takes to come through several consecutive matches in the extended best-of-five-set format,” Fraser said.
“A potential second-round meeting with Medvedev in Montreal this week would help to determine where exactly he will sit on the bookmakers’ list.”
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Tennis Podcast co-host Matt Roberts said Kyrgios’ Washington performance showed he was likely to build on his success at Wimbledon, rather than it being a flash in the pan.
“I know it’s the first time he’s won a title this season but he has been playing very well whenever he’s played and I do think, I go back a lot to that quote he gave, kind of jokingly, straight after Wimbledon but it was serious at the same time, where he said that if he’d won Wimbledon he might have lost his motivation,” Roberts said.
“I actually think that losing that final, in a way, is probably the best thing in terms of prolonging his career. I think he’s got a little bit of a taste for it now in terms of wanting to see what happens when he properly dedicates himself and really does put his mind to it.
“I think he wants to find out how good he can get. A week like this, he played players that were kind of comfortable for him I think. He’s still only beaten Tsitisapas as a top 10 player in this run. We haven’t really seen him play those absolute top players I suppose.
“I’m interested to see next week when he plays potentially Daniil Medvedev in potentially his second match in Canada.
“That would be a fantastic test for both of them. it’s kind of tough to judge just exactly where Kyrgios’ level is but — an unmotivated Kyrgios is a dangerous player. A motivated Kyrgios is a different thing altogether.”
Co-host David Law warned, however, that history was not on Kyrgios’ side when it came to going all the way at slams.
“I think he is playing the most professional, consistent tennis of his career. Whether that means anything we’ll have to wait and see,” Law said.
“… I still think, best of five sets where you don’t have the help of the surface, he is going to malfunction.
“He is going to get in his own way. Somebody is going to hang on in a match, players peak at grand slams. He’s going to play against players who are playing their best stuff at that tournament and he is going to come apart at the seams, most likely, because that is the history.
RAGE aplenty as Kyrgios wins tie-break | 02:07
James Gray, writing for iSport, agreed despite acknolwedging the Kyrgios hype train “might never have had such a head of steam up as it currently does”.
“Entertainment has never been Kyrgios’s problem: attainment has,” Gray wrote.
“Have you finally got over that hump? There are certainly results in his 2022 record to suggest he might have done, beating Stefanos Tsitsipas (twice), Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev, but his record against the top 20 in 2022 remains six wins and seven losses. For that kind of form to equal victory in New York, Kyrgios will need some help from the draw.
“He is likely to get some as well, since his world ranking will now almost certainly earn him a seeded spot, protecting him from the world’s top 30 players in the opening two rounds. And circumstance – injury to Alexander Zverev and the unvaccinated status of Novak Djokovic – will protect him from two of the top 10 for the duration of the tournament.”
Just weeks after Mike Atherton delivered the ICC an ominous warning of the very real threat of franchise cricket taking credence over the international game, an IPL boss has confirmed the desire to contract players across the world to 12-month deals.
“In an ideal world, sure – because that gives us the opportunity to make our vision and our strategy even stronger,” Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore told The Telegraph.
“If we were able to have X number of contracted players, and were able to use them all in different leagues, I think that would be nirvana. Hopefully, someday it will happen. I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.”
The report comes as former Australian captain Adam Gilchrist said it would be “commercial suicide” for Cricket Australia to allow David Warner to skip the Big Bash and play in a rival T20 league elsewhere in the world.
Australia’s David Warner is considering his future in short-form cricket. Photo: AFPSource: AFP
It also comes just weeks after the Proteas withdrew from their ODI series in Australia next January, with South Africa forfeiting their World Cup qualification points so they can have their international players at home for the launch of their new T20 competition.
While Gilchrist could understand Warner, who is in the twilight of his “great career”, wanting to play overseas to top up his bank balance, he said it would set a dangerous precedent for emerging players.
“This is the big kicker, isn’t it, of possibly being the step towards being contracted to the club before or over country for the predominant amount of cricket you play,” Gilchrist told SEN last week.
“I think it would almost be commercial suicide for them (CA) to allow a player like him (Warner) to go head-to-head up against their own competition.
“It’s the new younger player coming in that starts to make those noises where it’ll be really challenging.
“Perhaps it’s the first example where David Warner doesn’t sign a contract with Cricket Australia at all, he just plays for a match fee.
“He goes and plays wherever he wants but says, ‘I’m available for every Test match, for every one-day international and every T20 international’ by way of example, I’ll be there for you in national colours.
“But other than that, I’m going to play my club, my franchise cricket, wherever I want to, knowing that none of those big tournaments will be clashing with international cricket.”
Kolkata Knight Riders’ cricketer Andre Russell is one of a number of players who have become T20 specialists. Photo: AFPSource: AFP
Gilchrist’s comments came a fortnight after Atherton honed in on South Africa’s decision to walk away from their ODI series against Australia and, ultimately, predicted franchise cricket would increasingly fill players’ pockets and see them contracted by cashed-up owners instead of their countries.
“A franchise-dominated landscape, with yearly ICC tournaments and not much bilateral international cricket or Tests, is coming, though,” Atherton, the former England captain, wrote in The Times.
“All this is good news for the players’ bank accounts, mainly, but it will be a very different landscape, with players eventually contracted to private companies who will acquire franchises across the globe.
“I found myself chatting to a player’s agent this week in Birmingham along these lines. England, he said, will be the last man standing where Test cricket is concerned. June and July stand out as the only months without T20 competition when Test cricket can flourish.”
The Telegraph’s report confirms what many respected figures within the game have feared, with the privatization of the game, particularly at franchise level, now starting to take full effect.
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Twelve-month deals would likely have a seismic impact on the international game, enabling franchises to sign players on lucrative year-round deals and, as a result, throw into jeopardy a player’s international availability.
It could also have a destabilizing impact at a domestic level, with the next tier of players unable to improve and test their skills against international players, should they be overseas.
AceThe Telegraph highlighted, The Knight Riders now have four teams under their umbrella – their flagship IPL franchise, the Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League, plus sides in the International League T20 (UAE) and Major League Cricket (US), which both launch next year.
Other IPL teams are buying teams in other leagues – all six franchises in South Africa’s new T20 league, which launches in January – as international cricket faces heightened pressure to compete.
One obstacle currently standing in the way of the IPL’s desire to globalize the game is the varied recruitment rules used across different T20 leagues.
Currently, for instance, India’s stars aren’t allowed to play in overseas T20 leagues while only four international players are allowed in an XI in the IPL.
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Mysore is hopeful those barriers will be broken down eventually and says England’s The Hundred and Australia’s Big Bash competitions are the next hunting grounds for IPL owners.
“If it happened that way, at some point in the future, that’d be great,” Mysore told The Telegraph.
“What we want to create is a common platform and a system and a culture that allows us to participate around the year – enhancing our brand, building our fan base, and providing opportunities to cricketers around the world. And in the process, you hopefully build a successful business around it.”
He added: “Our immediate reaction to any such proposal is to say, yeah, we are absolutely interested because this is part of our strategy. Whether it is the Big Bash or the Hundred, although we understand the challenges these leagues face in inviting private investments.
“Wherever we have gone, we’ve made it successful for the mutual benefit of the league as well as the Knight Riders. When a proposal comes to us it’s because they understand the value that the Knight Riders brand brings with it and the entire package that comes with it – we know how to build those brands.”
