The Australia U19 World Cup team are in hot water for what is deemed to have been casual racism after a series of social media posts made by the players ahead of their quarter-final loss to India on Tuesday.

The small group of players responded to a post made by Jake Fraser-McGurk on Instagram that read ‘Quarter-finals here we come.’

Top order batsman in the Australian team Oliver Davies commented on the post with ‘Sir great player, big fan, and will play India one day,’ before leg spinner Tanveer Sangha also responded with ‘You hit ball very hard sir.’

A further two players, Liam Scott and Lachlan Hearne, also joined in on the social media action with comments of ‘Sir give me Whatsapp number I want to be friend’ and ‘Young Steve Smith sir.’

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Opening batsman Sam Fanning was then the last player to have his say by commenting ‘How u bat so good young man.’

The comments sparked Cricket Australia to take swift action and the those responses have since been deleted of Instagram.

In a statement released by the governing body, head of integrity and security Sean Carroll has said that such ridiculing language goes against the values of Australian cricket.

‘We are extremely disappointed that some of the Australian Under-19 squad members have used inappropriate language in posts on social media, which we reported to the ICC as soon as it came to our attention.

‘Some of that language could be interpreted as ridiculing non-native English language speakers,’ said Carroll.

Carroll has reiterated that the players have been spoken to by management and will receive their sanctions upon the conclusion of the World Cup in South Africa.

‘Most of the players do not have their parents present with them in South Africa and some of them are minors. Accordingly, we believe it is appropriate to consider sanctions upon their return home.’

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