Anthony Albanese takes cheeky Ashes jab at UK counterpart Rishi Sunak

Anthony Albanese has ripped into the Poms with a cheeky jab at his UK counterpart ahead of a blockbuster Fourth Ashes Test.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ripped into his British counterpart, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with a cheeky sledge over the current series scoreline in the Ashes.

Meeting in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius this week for the 2023 NATO summit, the Prime Minister met individually with a range of world leaders including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

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Albanese took to social media to share his discussion with Sunak.

“I caught up with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to discuss progress with AUKUS, technology transfer and economic challenges, as well as the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement,” Albanese said.

“And of course we discussed the Ashes.”

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. Photo by PETER NICHOLLS / POOL / AFP.

Albanese shared a clip of the pair exchanging “gifts” for each other, which turned out to be various digs at their respective counterpart’s cricket teams.

Albanese brought out a sheet of paper that read “2-1 (Australia-England)”, before Sunak revealed a photograph of what appeared to be English celebrations after the Headingley victory.

The Australian Prime Minister then took it a step further with a TV screenshot of Jonny Bairstow’s now-infamous run out at the hands of Alex Carey at Lord’s, to which Sunak joked “I’m sorry, I didn’t bring my sandpaper with me,” referencing the 2018 ball-tampering saga.

“There’s a crease,” Albanese replied bluntly.

And of course we discussed the #Ashespic.twitter.com/FeKESkb062

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) July 11, 2023

It comes after Sunak made an official statement on the Bairstow saga after the Lord’s Test, with a spokesperson for Sunak saying he agreed with England captain Ben Stokes that the dismissal wasn’t in the spirit of the game.

“The prime minister agrees with Ben Stokes who said he simply wouldn’t want to win a game in the manner that Australia did,” the spokesman said.

Asked if he thought Australia had contravened the spirit of cricket, the spokesperson responded: “yes”.

Albanese would go on to tweet and address Sunak’s remarks.

“Same old Aussies – always winning!” the Prime Minister said in a tweet, invoking cries of English fans at Lord’s that Aussies are “always cheating”.

“I’m proud of our men’s and women’s cricket teams, who have both won their opening two Ashes matches against England.”

The fourth Ashes Test gets underway at Old Trafford on

Originally published as Anthony Albanese takes cheeky Ashes jab at UK counterpart Rishi Sunak