Australia's "overpaid prima donna" cricketers were shamed by their humbling first Test defeat to Bangladesh on Wednesday
Steve Smith
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Australia's "overpaid prima donna" cricketers were shamed by their humbling first Test defeat to Bangladesh on Wednesday.
Bangladesh claimed their first-ever Test win over one-time power Australia and only their 10th in 101 Tests against all nations, beating Steve Smith's men by 20 runs on the fourth day.
Australia are currently ranked fourth to Bangladesh's ninth in the ICC Test rankings. While applauding Bangladesh's feat, Australia's media focused on the huge financial disparity between the two sides. "What happened in Dhaka was on one hand wonderful for world cricket and on the other embarrassing for a pack of overpaid prima donnas," the Melbourne Herald-Sun thundered. "Australia, if you're going to go strike over their pay packets, you want to make sure you back it up in the field of play. Losing to Bangladesh is hardly doing that."
The Australian newspaper said: "The hapless 11 who became the first Australian team to lose a Test to Bangladesh will be paid an average of Aus$1.36 million from Cricket Australia this financial year, or about Aus$26,000 a week."
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