High profile Australian player turned commentator removed from flight before World Cup

Former Australian cricketer Michael Slater was removed while boarding the Qantas flight from Sydney to Wagga Wagga, a town in New South Wales. Slater said that he had been arguing with two friends while boarding the flight.

Slater issued an apology letter on Tuesday, the statement read, “I apologise for the inconvenience this caused other passengers on the flight.” The cricketer turned commentator was removed for disruptive behaviour after some co-passengers complained.

Slater was also a commentator in the Indian Premier League 2019 and he came into news after he took a dig at Ambati Rayudu and said, even my 6-year old daughter would hit that better than him, referring to a shot Ambati mistimed.

The former batsman was part of the Australian cricket team from 1993 to 2001 and played 74 Tests and 42 ODIs. Slater scored 5,312 runs in Test cricket at an average of 42.83 with 14 centuries and 21 half-centuries to his name. He has 987 runs in ODI cricket.

Slater was recently added to the roster of ICC World Cup commentators which also includes some big names like, Michael Clarke, Nasser Hussain, Ian Bishop, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly, ex Australia cricketer Melanie Jones, former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, Michael Atherton, Alison Mitchell, former New Zealand cricketer Brendon McCullum, former South Africa players Graeme Smith and Shaun Pollock, ex Pakistan player Wasim Akram, Mark Nicholas, West Indies cricket legend Michael Holding, Isa Guha, Pommie Mbangwa, Sanjay Manjrekar, Harsha Bhogle, Simon Doull, Ian Smith, Ramiz Raja, Athar Ali Khan and Ian Ward.

The 2019 World Cup will start from May 30 in England and Wales. This time the tournament will follow the round-robin format, unlike previous editions. Each team will play nine matches before qualifying for the playoffs.

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