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Australia’s prime minister has told his UK counterpart Rishi Sunak to “stay in your crease”, in an escalating row over the dismissal of a cricketer in England’s defeat in the second Ashes test match last weekend.
Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday that the UK prime minister’s “disappointment” at his team’s loss on Sunday was “understandable”, after Sunak said the Australian side’s actions during the match at Lord’s were not “in the spirit” of the game.
Sunak “must not have had the same lessons as I got in primary school at St Joseph’s Camperdown: ‘Stay in your crease’,” Albanese told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. “Hope you’re well, PM,” he added.
English batsman Jonny Bairstow was on Sunday ruled out by the umpire after he mistakenly thought that the game had reached the end of an over and left his position — leaving him open to being stumped out by Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
Bairstow’s subsequent dismissal paved the way for Australia to win the match, taking a 2-0 series lead in the five-match series.
The move by Carey sparked fierce debate on and off the pitch, intensifying the countries’ historical rivalry. The crowd of 32,000 erupted in boos and cheers, with some English fans chanting “same old Aussies, always cheating”.
Ben Stokes, England’s captain, conceded after the match that his teammate was technically out but said: “Would I want to win a game in that manner? The answer for me is no.”
Asked about what happened during the match, Downing Street said on Monday that Sunak “agrees with Ben Stokes, who said he simply wouldn’t want to win a game in the manner Australia did”. Asked if Australia’s actions had gone against the spirit of cricket, Number 10 said: “Yes.”
Downing Street said on Tuesday there would “continue to be a friendly rivalry between our two countries”, adding that the prime minister wished the English team “the best of luck” for the rest of the series.
Albanese wrote on Twitter on Monday that he was proud of Australia’s men’s and women’s cricket teams, adding in a nod to the chants on Sunday: “same old Aussies — always winning!”
The Ashes represent one of the most intense and longstanding sporting rivalries in the world, with the two teams taking it in turns to host the contest every two years since 1877.
After England were beaten for the first time as host in 1882, the Sporting Times newspaper said English cricket had died and that “the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia”.
The rivalry hit a nadir in the 1932-33 series when the English team deployed hostile leg-side bowling — known as “bodyline” — in which the ball was aimed at the batsman’s body, a tactic deemed by many to be firmly against the spirit of the game.
The next match in this year’s series will begin on Thursday at Headingley, Yorkshire’s home ground.
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