Mitchell McClenaghan has a message for all abusive trolls

Mitchell McClenaghan had an off-day in the Big Bash League (BBL) game between Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Renegades where he was hit for 25 runs in the final over by Tim Ludeman and Beau Webster. Following the match, he was severely criticized on social media since the match was pretty close and Thunder lost by just 9 runs.

He took to Twitter to ask social media to tone the criticism that turned to abuse and cuss words in no time. It is not the first time that a cricketer has been subject to hate and trolling after a bad performance. In fact, it has become a culture that has been normalized and no matter the stature of the player, trolling and cuss words are a common sight after a failure.

In his tweet, an upset McClenaghan wrote, “For all those who feel the need to be abusive to any player on social media understand that it’s a tough game and your hate will only fuel our desire to get better and won’t break us. It’s More a reflection on who you are as a human being and definitely nothing to be proud of.”

However, it also appears that he was successful in getting the message across as various fans replied in agreement with the bowler.

Here’s what he said:

For all those who feel the need to be abusive to any player on social media understand that it’s a tough game and your hate will only fuel our desire to get better and won’t break us. It’s More a reflection on who you are as a human being and definitely nothing to be proud of.

— Mitchell McClenaghan (@Mitch_Savage) January 24, 2018

The match situation was that Melbourne were batting first and were successful in posting a more than challenging target with 189. They started well, lost the plot in the middle overs but managed to pull things back in style as Webster played a blinder with some support from Ludeman.

It was definitely disastrous in terms of death bowling from McClenaghan as the last over was a big factor in giving Melbourne the upper hand but his disappointment in the criticism he got cannot be ignored either. The irony of the situation was such that McClenaghan was also the last man standing at the crease in the Thunder innings, unable to guide his team home. He was dismissed by Kieron Pollard for 9 runs. The difference in the victory for Melbourne was also that of 9 runs.