Ashes 2023: ‘It makes England look like bad sports, bad losers’

Albanese mocks British ‘always cheating’ chant, while John Major lashes behaviour in the MCC. But our No. 1 cricket tragic John Howard thinks it’s too hot a topic to comment on.

Down at the Strand: John Howard and former British PM Sir John Major were guests at the highbrow Coutts Bank for a talk on cricket politics. Picture: Annabel Moeller

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has weighed in, so too Alexander Downer, Australia’s former High Commissioner to the UK. Former Australian deputy prime minister Michael McCormack has just changed his mind, and the long serving former Australian prime minister and cricket tragic John Howard has decided this is a political topic way too hot to give any comment on. The former British prime minister Sir John Major, another cricket buff has no words except about the behaviour of the MCC members in the rarefied Long Room.

In London at every diplomatic and social gathering on Monday night – there is just the one topic.

Meanwhile back home, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mocked the English chant of “Same old Aussies, always cheating,” by tweeting: ‘Same old Aussies – always winning.’ adding that Australia was looking forward to welcoming the team home victorious.

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

Same old Aussies – always winning!

Australia is right behind @ahealy77, @patcummins30 and their teams and look forward to welcoming them home victorious 👏

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) July 3, 2023

Was Australia too aggressive in getting Jonny Bairstow out with a quick thinking stumping, when the England batsman had marked his crease and moved at the end of the over towards his colleague on the final day of the Second test at Lord’s cricket ground?

Mr Sunak, the British Prime Minister, a keen cricket fan who attended the Lord’s Test, fiercely agreed with England captain Ben Stokes that the manner of Australia’s victory in the second test was not one that England would have wanted. In comments that were highly unusual for a politician, Mr Sunak directly commented on the sportsmanship of the Australian team.

He authorised his official spokesman to tell reporters on Monday: “The Prime Minister agrees with (England captain) Ben Stokes. He said he simply wouldn’t want to win a game in the manner Australia did.”

That provoked an immediate response from Australia’s long serving foreign minister, Alexander Downer, who has been advising the Sunak government on immigration matters.

Australian players are heckled as they walk past MCC members at Lords after the dismissal of English batsman Jonny Bairstow. Picture: Nine Wide World of Sports

Mr Downer told The Sun: “It’s a bit undignified to go around complaining that the team that defeated you cheated when the team doesn’t make the decision, the umpire did – and it was consistent, as everybody has pointed out, with the rules of cricket.

“The trouble is, it makes England look like bad sports, bad losers.”

Down at the Strand, Mr Howard and Sir John were guests at the highbrow Coutts Bank for a talk on cricket politics, organised by the British-Australia Society where neither wanted to give an opinion, Instead they let questions about the drama go through to the keeper.

Mr Major joked “it’s time I left”, when asked about Sunday’s incident, before adding: “the real breach in the spirit of cricket was actually in the Long Room at Lords. What had ever happened on the field, whatever people thought about it, (the Long Room) it was unthinkable and I hope it will not happen again and I think the MCC are taking action to ensure that it doesn’t.”

Three MCC members have been disciplined for a breach of member protocols when abusing Australian players as they walked through to the dressing room during the febrile atmosphere at the lunch break.

Usman Khawaja walks through the MCC Members gate. Picture: Getty Images.

Mr Howard said it wouldn’t be the Ashes series if something wasn’t explosive.

”I’ve seen ferocious internationals …. I don’t know of an Ashes series that hasn’t had some issue involving judgments versus the strict adherence to the laws (of cricket),” he said.

Mr Howard told how nearly eight decades ago in the 1946/47 series the great Don Bradman was caught in the gully while on 28, but Bradman turned and insisted “I didn’t hit it”, at odds with the opinion of the England players. Said Mr Howard, “this was a terrible way to start an Ashes series, it wasn’t terrible at all, it was just the Ashes, everybody was tensed up’’.

Ben Stokes speaks to Pat Cummins after play. Picture: Getty Images.

At the same time at an Australia House reception down the road for the highly successful Australian women’s team, officials clamped down on the female players making any official comment. But the many guests in attendance didn’t talk about anything else.

It is believed some in the women’s squad were not entirely pleased that captain Pat Cummins didn’t intervene and abandon the umpire’s review of the matter.

Also at the same reception the former deputy prime minister Mr McCormack, who is the captain of Australia’s parliamentary cricket team playing their English counterparts on Thursday, was initially insistent the Australians “were quite right” to seek the easiest of wickets in such an aggressive manner. He noted: “It’s the Ashes and they are playing for high stakes” until he reviewed footage of the stumping and was reminded that not only did Bairstow mark his ground after letting the ball go through to the keeper, it was the end of the over. Mr McCormack quickly reviewed his own opinion.

“At the end of the over, then Bairstow having marked his guard and walked down the pitch to talk to the other batsman, he was probably entitled to do that without having his stumps thrown down,’’ he said.

“The laws of the game are such that he is out, but I wouldn’t have done that.”

And so the debate goes on.