Ahead of the ongoing Day/Night pink-ball Test between Australia and India, cricket fans were treated with a legendary cricketer sledging another one as former Australian captain Allan Border poked fun at Glenn McGrath.
During the pre-match show of India vs Australia day-night Test in Adelaide, McGrath was asking Border’s opinion about emerging all-rounder Cameron Green, who made his Test debut for Australia on Thursday.
Border, while lavishing rich praise on Green, decided to have a cheeky dig at McGrath in a proper Aussie style. He said that the Queensland all-rounder is probably 10 kmph quicker than what McGrath was when he first started playing first-class cricket.
“He’s an exciting young talent. What I like about him is that he has backed his potential with performance. He’s been scoring lots of runs in Sheffield Shield,” Border said on Sony Pictures Sports Network.
“Lot of people have said that he’s the best they’ve seen since Ricky Ponting. You went to the academy with Ponting, so you know what a quality youngster he was and turned out to be one of the greats of the game.”
“So, if Green is anywhere near that, then we’ve found a really good cricketer then you throw in the fact he is around 6 foot 6 and bowls a heavy ball. He is probably around 10 ks quicker than you Pidgy! (McGrath’s nickname), bowls around 140. So he is a real deal, don’t you worry about that,” added Border.
“That is a proper sledge,” said Harsha Bhogle and the panelists Sanjay Manjrekar, and McGrath himself broke into laughter. McGrath, being a real sport, was quick to reveal how Border had a lot to say when he first started playing in the Sheffield Shield for New South Wales.