‘Is that an excuse for 4-0’: Mitchell Starc hits back at Stuart Broad’s bio-bubble remark on Ashes 2021

England and Australia are set to lock horns in the forthcoming Ashes 2023 edition, which will be held in the United Kingdom. Ahead of the upcoming series, England and Aussie players have already got involved in a war of words. Recently, Stuart Broad commented on the bio-bubble arrangements England had to go through when they toured Australia for Ashes 2021. Broad questioned the hard quarantine in place Down Under and called it a ‘void series’. Now, Australian pacer Mitchell Starc has hit back at the Englishman and feels England got away with a lot of leeway while they were in quarantine in Australia.

“Nothing was harsher than the last Ashes series. But in my mind, I don’t class that as a real Ashes,” Broad was quoted as saying to the Daily Mail last month. He added, “Nothing about that series was high-level performance because of the Covid restrictions. The training facilities, the travel, not being able to socialise. I’ve written it off as a void series.”

Also Read: Don’t class 2021-22 edition as real Ashes, have written it off as a void series: Stuart Broad

‘I did seven of them, their quarantine was easiest by a country mile’

Starc was quoted as saying to the Sydney Morning Herald, “The funniest thing out of that was they called it quarantine on the Gold Coast. I did seven of them. That was the easiest by a country mile. Was that really quarantine? They were still allowed to play golf on tour. Is that an excuse for 4-0?”

Talking about Ashes 2023, the series will kick off on June 16 with the first Test to be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham. The second match will be held at the iconic Lord’s cricket ground, London on June 28 whereas the next two will be played in Headingley, Leeds and Old Trafford, Manchester on July 06 and July 19 respectively. The series finale will be held at the Kennington Oval, London on July 27.