Warne slams Aus players’ poor performances

Sky Sports commentator Shane Warne has slammed members of the Australian Cricket World Cup team after the side were convincingly defeated by England in the second semifinal.

Australia failed to win a World Cup semifinal for the first time in eight attempts, unable to defend a total of 223 after being reduced to 14-3 after winning the toss.

Rating the squad’s individual performances in an article for Sky Sports, Warne called out various players for their weak outings.

Peter Handscomb’s performance was deemed the lowest of the side with a shameful 3/10 from Warne, who believed the Australian batsman “should not have been in the team in the first place”.

“He did not look like making a run,” wrote Warne, a 1999 World Cup winner who took 1001 test and one-day wickets. “He should have been out three or four times during his brief innings” of 4 off 12 balls.

Aaron Finch, David Warner, Marcus Stoinis and Jason Behrendorff were all deemed a 4/10 by Warne, who wrote the usual stars would likely be very disappointed with their outings.

“It is pretty hard to judge someone who gets out first ball to a good delivery. [Aaron Finch] captained pretty well and tried hard. It was not a good day for him and he will be disappointed but at least he won the toss,” Warne wrote.

“[Jason Behrendorff] needs conditions to go his way. If you get him on a flat wicket like this, he doesn’t look that threatening, and I was very surprised he bowled the first over. Starc should have done it to try and set the tone.”

Alex Carey (7/10) and Steve Smith (8/10) were awarded the highest scores of the clash by Warne.

Carey hit a 70-ball 46, while Smith anchored the innings almost till the end and scored 85.

“Smith was fantastic. Without him, Australia would have struggled to make 150. I thought he batted really well when wickets were falling around him. It was tough going for him,” Warne wrote.