Steve Smith warns MCC members as Australia returns to Lord’s for first time since ugly Ashes incident

It was the ugly flashpoint of an explosive Ashes series – when Australia’s players were confronted by angry fans in the Lord’s Long Room. Now, they’re set to come face to face again.

Steve Smith says he isn’t sure what sort of reception awaits the Australian team when they return to Lord’s next week but that MCC members would “want to be careful” after the fallout from last year’s explosive Ashes Test at the venue.

The Aussies’ five-match one-day international series against England begins in Nottingham on Thursday night (Australian time) with game four next Friday night at Lord’s set to mark Australia’s first match back at the ground since the infamous second Test of the 2023 Ashes.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) expelled one member and suspended two others following an investigation into the conduct of patrons at the lunch break on day five in which Australian players were verbally abused and physically contacted as they made their way through the Long Room in the dramatic aftermath to Alex Carey’s controversial run out of Jonny Bairstow.

Australian players were heckled by MCC members in ugly scenes at Lords last year. Picture: Nine Wide World of Sports

Australian veteran Smith – who has an outstanding record at Lord’s – said MCC members should heed the lessons of last year.

“I’d say people would want to be careful. The ones that got stuck in got booted,” Smith told this masthead.

“So I assume people would want to be pretty careful, but I don’t know. We’ll wait and see.”

Reflecting on the chapter well over a year after it transpired, Smith said he had been able to see the funny side of things in the moment.

“I kind of laughed at it the whole time, these grown men that were just over the top, it was bizarre,” Smith said.

Smith saw the funny side of the ugly scenes last year. Picture: Getty

However the ex-Test skipper said he appreciated why fans could get worked up in the moment, noting that he too was prone to letting off steam when watching the NRL’s Sydney Roosters.

“Yeah, big time. I scream at the television when the Roosters are playing all the time. If I was at the game, I’d probably be more chilled, but I’m at home by myself? Certainly get that.

“(I understand) frustrations when players don’t do well and all that, but I also understand it from a player’s perspective as well. They’re trying their hardest. They’re trying to do their job, and sometimes it doesn’t work out, just like, sometimes I don’t get runs.”

Like Smith, Carey is also in the Aussie one-day squad for the series, having been recalled after missing a series against the West Indies earlier this year following being dropped at the World Cup last October.

Smith – and Alex Carey – will return to Lord’s as part of Australia’s ODI team. Picture: Getty

In a statement released last October when the sanctions for three member were released, the MCC said: “The actions of the three individuals in the pavilion on the day in question fell well below the behaviour expected from our members.

“The penalties set out above are the consequences of breaching the club’s code of conduct. MCC will not be making any further comment on the matter at this time.”

The Long Room confrontations were detailed in Amazon’s latest instalment of The Test documentary series.

Usman Khawaja detailed some of the abuse hurled towards Australian players.

“One of them [the members] … [was] spraying me. I was like ‘nup, you can’t be saying that stuff’. He said ‘oh, I can say whatever I effing want’, like a sense of entitlement almost,” Khawaja said in the documentary.

Marnus Labuschagne said “One of them was foaming at the mouth. A bloke hit Bull [David Warner] when he went up the stairs.”

Originally published as Steve Smith warns MCC members as Australia returns to Lord’s for first time since ugly Ashes incident