New ‘The Test’ documentary shows extent of fan abuse copped by Australians during Ashes series

The next edition of Amazon’s The Test will unveil the abuse the Aussie players suffered at Lord’s after the Jonny Bairstow incident, however it won’t just be from inside the Long Room.

Secret filming has revealed the hostile and sustained abuse Australian players copped during the Ashes – not only inside the Lord’s Long Room.

A new Amazon Test documentary is currently in production ahead of a release in the first part of 2024 and director Adrian Brown said never-before-seen footage will shed new light on one of the most explosive Ashes series ever played.

Fly-on-the-wall cameraman Clancy Sinnamon followed Australian stars Usman Khawaja and David Warner from their ugly face-to-face confrontation with Lord’s members into the sanctity of the dressing room, where players immediately debrief the carnage they’ve just been subjected to following the controversial dismissal of Jonny Bairstow.

“There will be the different sides of what happened. People have seen those first scenes of the teams re-entering the Long Room, but for me it’s almost the next part – the aftermath of that moment,” Brown said.

“How did the players react? We’ve never seen that. We’ve heard about it. But how did the players straight after that moment, deal with that and take that in?”

Usman Khawaja and Dave Warner in dispute with several MCC Members in the Long Room at Lords during the lunch break.

But the abuse from English crowds went beyond that afternoon.

Brown said Sinnamon captures a relentless onslaught of abuse directed at Australian players through the series.

“That’s the other part that stands out. Getting a visual sense of what the Australian men’s team went through,” Brown said.

“Just how much abuse they copped. All the time. Everywhere.

“Not just when they’re playing. When they’re walking out to the nets. The constant barrage they had to deal with … unbelievable.”

The drama-filled Ashes has given Test producers reels of powder keg moments and emotional story-lines.

Right down to five minutes to midnight when Australia were locked out of the English dressing rooms for a traditional beer after the series, the behind-the-scenes footage promises to add a new layer to the blockbuster Ashes winter.

However, the one piece of the puzzle missing is the cameras sadly did not follow Australia to their subsequent World Cup campaign.

It would have been some finale to have captured the drama behind Maxwell’s golf cart incident and then stunning double century on one leg that followed.

Usman Khawaja and Dave Warner in dispute with several MCC Members in the Long Room at Lords during the lunch break.

The backroom debate that went into captain Pat Cummins’ brave decision to bowl first in the final in front of 100,000 Indian fans in Ahmedabad, and the emotion in the sheds of securing arguably the greatest World Cup victory ever recorded.

But even though the third season of The Test is Ashes (and World Test Championship Final only), Cummins’ leadership and strength of character shines through once again as a central theme.

“I think you get to sense that leadership certainly being tested, but then you look at what evolved in the World Cup,” Brown said.

“Hopefully there will be moments that gives people a different point of view about the mentality to play this way here, and shows people what he had to deal with.

“The constant debate about spirit of cricket and everything else like that and Pat’s just accountable for every part that he does. The way he stands up and manages himself, never loses his cool, always calm.

“Series 2 looked at the team mentality. Probably this series looks a bit more at Pat’s leadership more from an individual perspective.”