Black armbands at cricket today: Why are the Australian cricketers wearing black armbands today vs South Africa at The Gabba?

The current lot of South African batters’ inexperience of playing in the Australian conditions has been demonstrated in the first session of the ongoing three-match Test series. Put in to bat first by Australia captain Pat Cummins on a green pitch, South Africa lost as many as four wickets in the first hour of the series to put on display an unwanted start to a Test tour.

In an unlikely event, South Africa captain Dean Elgar (3) was their first batter to be dismissed on Day 1 of the first Test after he gloved a Mitchell Starc delivery to Australia wicket-keeper Alex Carey behind the wickets. Although not down the leg-side like his skipper, No. 3 batter Rassie van der Dussen (5) also edged a delivery to Carey albeit off Cummins.

Picking wickets for fun in Test cricket, Australia pacer Scott Boland didn’t take a lot of time before picking another two in his first spell itself. Boland, 33, sent Sarel Erwee (10) and Khaya Zondo (0) back to the pavilions in the same over to further restrict the visitors to 27/4 in just the 11th over.

With white-ball captain Temba Bavuma and wicket-keeper batter Kyle Veereynne in the middle, it is needless to say that a game-changing partnership is the need of the hour for South Africa especially with no specialist batter to follow.

Black armbands at cricket today 2022

In a rare instance, both Australian and South African cricketers have been spotted donning black armbands at The Gabba on Saturday. It is worth a mention that the same has been done as a mark of respect for the death of two police officials earlier this week.

The players will today wear black armbands to remember those lost in the tragic events of Queensland’s Western Downs this week #AUSvSA pic.twitter.com/XsBePOqpXr

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 17, 2022

A total of six people (including locals) died in an ambush attack when Queensland police reached a property to find a New South Wales man named Nathaniel Train in rural Australia, some 300 km west of Brisbane. Both constables, 26-year old Matthew Arnold and 29-year old Rachel McCrow lost their lives after being shot at in line of duty.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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