‘Jonny, we’ve seen you do it’: Tim Paine calls out England Ashes hypocrisy

Ex-Aussie skipper Tim Paine has called out England’s long history of double standards and ball tampering after Jonny Bairstow’s latest swipe.

Former Australian captain Tim Paine has savaged England stars Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali after their recent comments on the Ashes run out controversy.

Speaking his SEN Tassie show, Paine put the whinging stars in their place after an excerpt a new book on England and the recent Ashes series was released.

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Paine started his comments, taking aim at the title of the book, Bazball: The inside story of a Test cricket revolution: “I mean how lucky have we been that England have done that for us”.

But after comments from Bairstow and Moeen were released via The Telegraph earlier in the week, the former Aussie skipper took aim.

Although he said the comments were likely made months ago, Paine hit back at the comments as the Poms once again tried to claim the moral victory.

“If that’s how they want to go about it and win a cricket game or what have you, then so be it,” Bairstow’s quote began.

“If you try to gain an advantage, then it’s fair game. But if you’re starting in your crease, you’ve ducked, tap, tap, scratched. I’ve even dragged my bat, looked up, and then gone.

“I’ve never seen it happen from someone starting in their crease. I don’t think you want that filtering down into kids’ cricket.”

It was immediate Jonny. Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

But Paine wasn’t having it, calling out Bairstow’s hypocrisy after there was clear evidence of the English keeper claiming controversial stumpings and run outs throughout his career.

“We have seen it happen, numerous times. And not only have we seen it happen, Jonny, we’ve seen you do it,” Paine said.

Paine was alluding to vision from a 2014 County Championship match where he committed a contentious stumping on Nottinghamshire’s Samit Patel.

The video that’s circulated since the Ashes incident shows Bairstow waiting with his gloves next to the stumps, before whipping off the bails as Patel raised his foot off the ground after a delay.

"It's very very smart from Jonny Bairstow"

"Brilliant work by Jonny Bairstow, a wicket out of absolutely nothing there"

"a lot of credit to Jonny Bairstow for realizing the moment"#TheAshespic.twitter.com/OXnt6mCJfG

— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) July 4, 2023

At the time, Bairstow said: “It’s within the rules of the game and that’s how it is.”

Bairstow had also taken a shot at Marnus Labuschagne’s stumps in the same Test as Carey pulled off his dismissal.

Paine continued: “It’s been going through social media at the moment, the time Samit Patel was batting, ball went down the legside, Jonny Bairstow was keeping up to the stumps, he wasn’t trying to gain an advantage, he’d started in his crease, he wasn’t leaving, he simply lifted his foot up to balance himself again and mark centre, like Jonny did and Jonny whipped off the bails.

“Social media is brilliant isn’t it — nothing gets lost anymore. Samit Patel wasn’t trying to gain an advantage, and in your words Jonny, that’s fair game. It’s within the rules, it was out. Get over it and move on, we’ve spoken about it so much.

“You can’t have your cake and eat it. You’ve done it yourself in the past, when it happens to you, you’ve got to cop it on the chin.”

Paine was then questioned about Moeen’s claim that Cummins “missed a chance” to reset his team’s reputation in the wake of the sandpaper scandal in South Africa in 2018.

“My view was it was out, obviously,” Moeen was quoted as saying.

“I just thought it was a great opportunity for Pat Cummins to put to bed a lot of the things that have happened previously.

“Not just put to bed but take away that label they have had for a while with ‘Sandpapergate’.

“Firstly, if I was captain, I would hate to win a game like that. And secondly, a great opportunity missed for Australia.”

Paine wasn’t having it. Photo: The Test season 2

But Paine said the most telling aspect of his quote was that Moeen thought it was out.

“That quote … ‘I just thought it was out’. He thought it was out,” Paine said of Ali’s statement.

“Then he said he thought it was a great opportunity (for Pat Cummins to withdraw the appeal). If you think it was out, Moeen, it was out. So why would he withdraw his appeal?

“If it’s within the laws of the game, then it’s out.

“It’s like saying if you hit him in the knee on middle stump, ‘I thought it was out but it was a great opportunity to call him back’.

“No mate, the rules are there and it was out. You don’t have to call him back.

“And don’t even start me on the Sandpapergate stuff and that carry on.

“As I’ve said, every team in the world has tampered with the ball, including England and including teams he’s played in. So stop it. Please.”

There are several ball tampering scandals in Englands history, including then captain Michael Atherton rubbing dirt into the ball during a 1994 Test against South Africa, for which he was fined £2000.

Three years after the historic 2005 Ashes where England claimed their first series win in 18 years, former English opener Marcus Trescothick claimed the Poms had used mints to aid swing in both the 2001 and 2005 Ashes.

Former England spinner Monty Panesar also wrote in his book: “We found that mints and sun cream had an effect on the saliva, and that helped the ball to reverse.

“I might also have ‘accidentally’ caught the ball on the zip of my trouser pocket to rough it up a little.”

C’mon Jonny, get over it. Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

In 2010, South Africa accused England quicks Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson of manipulating the ball with Broad stepping on the ball and Anderson seemingly picking at the seam of the ball.

South Africa made a formal complaint to the match referee but the side were later cleared, despite former England skipper Michael Vaughan claiming in his article in The Telegraph: “There is no doubt in my mind that they were trying to change the condition of the ball”.

In 2017, Jimmy Anderson was in the spotlight during the Ashes after he ran his finger along the quarter seam of the ball, which commentators called out. But there was no further action as Australia won the series 4-0.

Wisden also revealed that between 2018 and 2021, England were the second worst behaved team in international cricket, having had 12 code of conduct breaches.