Australian players heard making bizarre statements regarding the sponsors on stump microphone

Australia are bossing the first Test match against South Africa which is being held at Kingsmead in Durban. Their bowlers bundled out the home side for just 162 as Mitchell Starc scalped a sensational five-wicket haul courtesy the reverse-swing which was on offer. Though the comments heard on the stump microphones made the headlines at the end of the day more than their excellent show on the field. However, it is also being said that these are ambush marketing tactics from Australia’s players to keep the stump mics down.

The visitors were believed to have talking up the virtues of their competing sponsors Qantas and XXXX during the start of the Proteas’ first innings. The comments though were heard by the commentators and not broadcast. The host broadcaster ‘SuperSport’ is not supposed to have heard anything that could be deemed as ‘ambush marketing’ and haven’t turned down the stump mics.

What did the players say?

During the start of the first over of South Africa‘s innings, an Australian player was heard asking the umpires “how good is Qantas?” as Starc got ready to deliver the first ball. It is worth noting that the two Australian sponsors (Qantas and XXXX) are in competition with Emirates and South African brewer Castle which is an official supplier to Cricket South Africa. Mitchell Marsh cleared in the press conference later that the tactic was more of a joke and not a protest.

“I wouldn’t say it was a protest, I’d say it was a great opportunity to give our sponsors a bit of a plug. Qantas, thank you for getting us here safely. The stump mics really for us players on the field are irrelevant, it’s about us as a team getting the ball in the right areas and we don’t really worry about that, it was a bit of a joke to give the sponsors a bit of a plug,” he said after the end of the day’s play.

Even AB de Villiers confirmed that the Aussies were friendlier than usual on the day. “It’s the usual stuff. we expect some verbal stuff out there when you’re playing cricket in general. It gets the juices flowing. I particularly enjoy it. And from the other side, we also get stuck in and try and unsettle the batters. It’s part of the game,” he said.

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