Rodney Hogg lashes out at Steven Smith for picking up close friends in the team

Former Australian cricketer Rodney Hogg has come with harsh criticism for Australian skipper Steven Smith. Hogg has claimed that Smith is biased towards certain players to the team. He accused a few players to be a part of the team only because they are close friends of Steve Smith. As per the recent quotes in Sportskeeda, Rodney Hogg lashed out at the Australian skipper for favoritism in the side.

The outburst came after Australia conceded the ongoing ODI series against India. With the defeat in the Indore ODI, Australian team now lags 0-3 down in the five match series. Hogg mentioned that as long the skipper picks up his close friends, the team cannot win matches. He noted that the likes of Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, and Nic Maddinson continue to be in the national side owing to their good relations with the skipper.

“They’re picking their mates. (Ashton) Agar’s been pushed through and Cartwright’s still there. We saw (Nic) Maddinson get selected (he’s) a mate, he’s one of Steve Smith’s mates. You can’t pick bloody mates!” quoted Rodney Hogg.

Why not Jon Holland?

He further noted that there should be fairness when it comes to team selections. He feels that Jon Holland could have been a better option than Ashton Agar in the subcontinental conditions. He was left surprised to see Holland not making it to the squad for the recently concluded Bangladesh series and now in the India tour as well. Despite having performed in domestic circuit, Holland has been ignored.

“We’ve got to get fair dinkum. We’re really off the ball a bit here. I think the captain’s getting his own way. Holland has proven he can bowl people out — left-arm orthodox is a really hard gig. He’s proven it and we aren’t seeing him,” mentioned the former Australian fast bowler.