Australia PM applauds Ashes win amid Sunak criticism

LONDILON : Australia PM Anthony Albanese has backed his country’s cricket team amid the Jonny Bairstow Ashes controversy.

Australia won the match after the English batsman left his position in the second test, apparently thinking the over had ended.

British PM Rishi Sunak agreed with the England captain’s claim that Australia “broke the spirit of cricket” in taking the contentious wicket.

But Mr Albanese said the country stands “right behind” its team.

“Same old Aussies – always winning!” the prime minister tweeted, referring to the Australian side’s two consecutive Test wins so far. His phrase also appeared to be a jibe at English fans who chanted “same old Aussies always cheating” after Bairstow was dismissed.

Some of Australia’s best-known politicians were also at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London that match, including the nation’s second longest-serving Prime Minister John Howard.

Australian team captain Pat Cummins has maintained the Bairstow wicket was fair and within the rules.

But while his England counterpart Ben Stokes agreed Bairstow was out, Stokes said he would not have wanted to win a match “in that manner”.

The debate over the Bairstow wicket has ramped up the consistently fierce rivalry between Australia and England during an Ashes Test series.

England fans were criticised for their behaviour at the member’s club at Lord’s on Saturday when a crowd heckled and yelled abuse at the Australian team players as they filed past after the match.

Following complaints from the Australian side, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) – which owns Lord’s – issued an apology and said it had suspended three members over the incident.

On Tuesday, further footage emerged of Australian batsman Usman Khawaja, a Muslim player of Pakistani heritage, being taunted and jeered at by English members in the crowd.

The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported Khawaja had been “repeatedly singled out for abuse” in the room, and published a video showing Khawaja reacting to the crowd and pointing out hecklers to a security guard.

Khawaja had earlier said he and another targeted teammate, David Warner, had spoken to members in the crowd following the abuse.

He described the comments as “disrespectful” and “really disappointing”.

Australian captain Cummins also said members were “quite aggressive and abusive towards some of our players”.

The Sydney paper reported that sources close to the England Cricket Board have denied any of the MCC investigations into the confrontation relate to racial abuse.

The incident comes less than a week after a landmark report into British cricket found racism, sexism, classism and elitism “widespread” in all levels of the English and Welsh cricket game.

Speaking after the second test, Australian captain Cummins also accused the English team of hypocrisy in game tactics – as match footage showed Bairstow trying to stump Australian batters in the same manner two days prior to the final day incident.

Australia has taken a two-nil lead in the Ashes against England, after winning the second test by 43 runs. There are three more tests to go.

courtesy: bbc