Australian players’ Ashes celebration at infamous pub that hosted Warner v Root clash

A group of Australian players celebrated their first Test victory at the pub where David Warner once threw a punch at England rival Joe Root, and the Barmy Army is filthy.

A decade to the month after it played host to one of Australian cricket’s most infamous off-field incidents, an iconic Birmingham bar was a scene of celebration to mark one of the nation’s greatest Test triumphs.

Birmingham’s Walkabout – one of several such Australian-themed pubs in the UK – entered cricket folklore in 2013 when it was the scene of David Warner’s punch on then-young English up-and-comer Joe Root. Warner was suspended for what was described at the time as a “glancing blow”, after the left-hander took exception to Root’s use of a costume wig in the aftermath of a Champions Trophy game between Australia and England.

Both parties have long since moved on from the chapter and played in Australia’s epic two-wicket win in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston this week.

With the match having finished at 7.21pm on Tuesday, the Aussies remained at the ground until after 10.30, singing John Williamson’s classic True Blue before belting out their team song.

The Walkabout pub in Birmingham: Scene of David Warner and Joe Root's infamous clash, and now an Australian Ashes victory celebration (which Warner did not attend).

When they eventually left the venue, a small group of players then headed to the Walkabout, where they joined jubilant Australian fans in tastefully lapping up a memorable victory.

An eyewitness said Warner was not among those players in attendance, with the fathers in the squad largely opting for quieter nights. Nathan Lyon was at the Walkabout, much to the dismay of the Barmy Army.

This is all out war now.

The Aussies celebrated yesterday’s win in our HQ for the week.

Apologies @WalkaboutBrum, we’ll make sure it’s full for the 2nd Test 😭 pic.twitter.com/GWso1PEfzs

— England's Barmy Army 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🎺 (@TheBarmyArmy) June 21, 2023

Having won an engrossing Ashes opener that started less than five days after Pat Cummins’ side secured its first World Test Championship crown, players have been given leave to freshen up with their families before reconvening on the weekend to begin preparations for the second Test at Lord’s, which begins on Wednesday.

In the case of paceman Mitchell Starc, who was omitted for the Birmingham Test, spending time with family involves more Test cricket, with the left-armer heading to Nottingham to watch his wife Alyssa Healy captain the Australian women’s side against England.

Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins steered Australia to victory in an epic Ashes opener at Edgbaston. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

First Test hero Usman Khawaja paid tribute to the environment created by Cummins and coach Andrew McDonald.

“Just cutting out the fluff,” Khawaja said. “Cutting out the box-ticking stuff. Really stripping down the game, saying what’s important, what do we think is important?

“People joke about it all the time and I joked about it when we played the Ahmedabad game (fourth Test in India), but even warm-ups every morning now are optional, do whatever you need to. Think that kind of stuff empowers players. It’s empowered us.

“We take onus on ourselves. Who wants to train today? OK, you don’t want to train, fine. At the end of the day, you are responsible for your own performance because that in itself impacts the team. If you are letting the team down in any way, that’s on you.

“We are all professionals and adults here, and think it’s the first time for a long time that we’ve really been treated like adults and think that’s made a big difference.”

Originally published as Australian players’ Ashes celebration at infamous pub that hosted Warner v Root clash