Josh Hazlewood played his part in Australia’s nine-wicket win over England in the first Ashes Test at The Gabba. Travis Head won the Man of the Match for his splendid century at a time when his team needed the innings from him. Australia thus head into the second Test in Adelaide gaining a huge advantage in the series.
Josh Hazlewood meanwhile, was trolled by England’s Barmy Army as he was tricked into signing an autograph on a paper that “I Joshua ‘Joshie’ Hazlewood do solemnly sear (swear) that I knew it was sandpaper.”
A Barmy Army member got Josh Hazlewood into signing without the knowledge of the pacer. They later tweeted a photo of the same as well from their official Twitter handle.
Barmy Army’s Tweet On Josh Hazlewood
Josh Hazlewood just signed this on the boundary, we knew it 🤣#Ashes pic.twitter.com/Nvx5Llz7ut
— England's Barmy Army 🏴🎺 (@TheBarmyArmy) December 11, 2021
The Sandpapergate scandal is one of the most controversial chapters of Australian cricket in recent times. Hazlewood was also a part of the team that played the test series in South Africa in 2018 and was a part of the scandal.
The scandal was masterminded by David Warner with then Australian Test skipper Stevie Smith and teammate Cameron Bancroft also involved in the controversy. Smith and Warner served a 12-month ban each from international cricket while Bancroft was given a nine-month ban sentence by Cricket Australia.
Australia Thrash England By Nine Wickets At The Gabba
Speaking about the first Test England were bowled out for 147 batting first. Australia in replay scored 425 courtesy of scores from Warner (94) and Travis Head (152).
England were bowled out for 297 in their second innings with Australia needing just 20 to win in the second innings. They won the match with nine wickets to spare. Nathan Lyon went past 400 Test wickets in the game and joined the likes of Ashwin, Harbhajan Richard Hadlee, Kapil Dev and Dale Steyn in an elite list of bowlers with 400 Test wickets.
“Really enjoyed it, lot of things did go right probably from the toss, overcast conditions, wicket had a bit in it and to turn up on day 2 – under blue skies, someone’s smiling over me. Really proud of everyone. A really complete performance” said skipper Pat Cummins after the win.
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