Published: Dec 26, 2016, 10:22 AM (IST)
Edited: Dec 26, 2016, 10:33 AM (IST)
There was a scare at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) when Mark Nicholas had to be rushed to the hospital directly from the commentator’s box. The reason for Nicholas’ deterioration of health is still unknown, but he is believed to be in a stable condition. Nicholas was taken away in a stretcher, as the concerned onlookers from the press area watched on, according to cricket.com.au. Nicholas is one of the commentators for Channel Nine for the Boxing Day Test between Australia and Pakistan at MCG. Australia lead the three-match series 1-0 after a nervy 39-run win in the first Test at Brisbane.
Australia are once again in control of the second Test. Pakistan have lost four wickets — Sami Aslam, Babar Azam, Younis Khan,Misbah-ul-Haq — before tea with just 142 on the board. Meanwhile, Azhar Ali played well and is batting on 66. Fast bowler Jackson Bird has been the pick of the bowlers, with figures of 2 for 53. Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon are the other two wicket-takers for Australia, while Mitchell Starc is yet to strike. However, Nicholas was the centre figure of a controversy earlier this year, when he called the West Indian cricketers “brainless,” just before West Indies won the World T20 title, for which he later apologised.
Live Cricket Scorecard: Pakistan vs Australia 2nd Test at Melbourne
“[Would like]to offer an unreserved apology to Darren Sammy, a man I hold in the highest regard, to his team and to the coaches around them for the throwaway phrase I used in a recent column on these pages,” Nicholas wrote in his column for ESPNCricinfo. “I would have made the same apology whatever the results of the day, but I do so now in the knowledge that the people of the Caribbean will have celebrated long into the night and well into today. The spirit of the romantics will be with them and from thousands of miles away the rest of us can almost taste the rum, feel its punch and dream of the day when we return to the lapping shores of those incomparable islands,” Nicholas said.
(With inputs from PTI)
