Broad boos, lamingtons, and Sam Konstas’ grown up shoes: Inside Australia’s London welcome
Gifted lamingtons and served meat pies, the Australian players mixed with dignitaries and expats as Sam Konstas showed just how far he’d come at an event hosted by the Australian High Commission.
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An elite crowd of 250 guests sent up a collective boo at the mention of Ashes super villain Stuart Broad coaching against Australia.
The Australian team was hosted by the Australian High Commission in London on Wednesday night ahead of the World Test Championship Final against South Africa at Lord’s next week and Pat Cummins, Alex Carey and Beau Webster were in a light mood and happy to entertain.
Gifted lamingtons and served meat pies, the Australian players mixed with dignitaries and expats and 19-year-old star Sam Konstas showed just how far he’s come since his whirlwind debut, wearing proper dress shoes to the function and not the sambas he broke the internet with when meeting the Prime Minister at Kirribilli House on New Year’s Day.
Konstas also broke into a broad smile at some gentle ribbing from his captain Cummins who joked that the batsman, who is a generation younger than the rest of his veteran teammates, was sitting at the “kids’ table” at the back of the room.
sam konstas wearing sambas to kirribilli is seriously good areas https://t.co/SSL1wk0qK5
— Tyson Whelan (@tyson_whelan) January 1, 2025
It was in that lighthearted spirit that Cummins also addressed the news from Monday that England nemesis Broad has cheekily defected to South Africa to serve as a coach for the WTC Final in one final taunt against the Australian team he has clashed with so dramatically over the past 12 years.
In a tongue-in-cheek interview with the BBC’s Alison Mitchell on stage, Cummins made it clear he was unconcerned by Broad popping up again on the other side of the fence.
“I don’t think he’s (going to be) bowling out there,” Cummins said when asked if the Australians were perturbed by the presence of one of their biggest Ashes nemesis’ in a foreign tracksuit.
At the mere uttering of Broad’s name by Mitchell, the 250 – mostly Australian – guests at Australia House responded with a jeer to confirm there is still no love lost two years on from the fiery Ashes tour of 2023.
“I’m glad he didn’t make it to our golf trip,” Cummins then said to a chorus of laughter in reference to the couple of days Australian players spent on the links before kicking off a week-long training camp in London on Wednesday.
Mitchell asked Cummins whether he thought Broad’s habits might rub off on the South Africans to the extent that Proteas spearhead Kagiso Rabada might start switching the bails between overs as he did during the last Ashes.
“Maybe. If he (Rabada) wore a headband that would be even funnier,” Cummins quipped.
The raging controversy that played out at Lord’s the last time Australia was in London for a Test match is now ancient history for the main protagonists Alex Carey and Cummins.
Carey was harassed with vile threats by England supporters at the time when he effected the infamous run-out of Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s, but now he has able to look back on the incident with a laugh.
“I’m excited to go back there,” Carey said, again to the approval of the Australia House audience.
“It brings back memories. I got a stumping off a 140km/h tall, fast bowler, which doesn’t happen too often. I can’t wait.
“If you can get a stumping in a Test match you’re always going to try and take it.”
Cummins said he would have no hesitation going ahead with the dismissal again and the Australians feel it’s Bairstow who has learnt his lesson.
“I don’t think Jonny will leave his crease again,” Cummins said.
Teammate Beau Webster played Bairstow recently in an English county game and chimed in by joking that Bairstow “was very quick to look back to the keeper and slips for four or five seconds before leaving his crease.”
Originally published as Broad boos, lamingtons, and Sam Konstas’ grown up shoes: Inside Australia’s London welcome
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