Australia greeted with sledging, selfies and songs
Langer’s side start tour with good-natured barbs ringing in their ears, writes Nick Hoult at Hove
Justin Langer will be pleased. The Sussex crowd at least followed his orders by indulging in sledging without getting abusive. A chorus of “If you all like sandpaper, clap your hands” from a few drunk fans was about as edgy as it got here as Australia eased their way into their tour to England and returned to the cricket field for the first time since the ball-tampering scandal.
On Wednesday, Langer admitted his team would continue to sledge, but has told them there is difference between what is acceptable banter and what counts as personal abuse. It remains to be seen how long Australia will play at being nice guys, but in Hove the charm offensive continued with players signing autographs, stopping for selfies – and they barely said a word to their opponents.
One fan shouted “Can I check your pockets?’ while the Australians were netting before the game and another was spotted wearing a tool kit around his waist offering sandpaper, but “Good Old Sussex By the Sea”, as the club style themselves on social media, was far from the pit of hate Australia feared. Of the team playing here only their captain, Tim Paine, was on the field when that incident took place in Cape Town and this was an Australia XI shorn of any star quality. Despite the lack of big names, the ground was a 6,000 sell-out and Sussex did their bit by picking a strong team, including Twenty20 sensation Jofra Archer and England all-rounder Chris Jordan.
Paine had said at Lord’s on Wednesday that he expected grief from the crowds in England, but it was a friendly seaside welcome, with Sussex even providing Australia with enough of a workout on the field to make this match a worthwhile exercise. Australia won with ease by 57 runs, but were rusty. They dropped four catches, their bowling was a long way from the fearsome, hostile pace bowling England endured in the winter and their batting ran out of steam once spin was introduced.
Seeing Australia tied down by left-armer Danny Briggs and part-time leg-spinner Luke Wells should be enough to ensure both Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid play at the Oval next week.
D’arcy Short went to the Indian Premier League with a big reputation, but lost his place in the Rajasthan Royals team due to weakness against spin and he lasted only three balls to Briggs, out lbw playing back.
At 167 for one from 30 overs, Australia were looking at a total above 350, but when Aaron Finch was out caught behind off Archer, the innings ran out of impetus. Marcus Stoinis, batting in Steve Smith’s position at No3, hit four sixes in a well-crafted hundred, but there was a lack of support. Glenn Maxwell was caught at mid-off and Paine chipped a low catch back to Wells from the sixth ball he faced.
Australia’s lack of cricket recently showed in the field. Phil Salt was twice dropped by Short on nought at square leg and they were costly errors. Salt hit 42 of his half-century through boundaries, twice clobbering Ashton Agar into the stands and hitting a spectator who needed brief medical treatment. But Sussex continued to lose wickets at key times. Salt was bowled slogging Kane Richardson, Harry Finch got to 45 but gave Agar a simple caught-and-bowled and Laurie Evans also failed to go on.
Elsewhere, Moeen Ali inspired Worcestershire to a one-wicket win over Warwickshire to reach the Royal London One-day Cup semi-finals, taking three wickets before smashing a 64-ball century.