British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australian PM Anthony Albanese engaged in a good-natured banter revolving around the Ashes series when the duo met during the NATO summit in Lithuania
The friendly encounter between the two politicians comes in the wake of a week-long dispute between England and Australia over a regulation crease stumping that was deemed against the spirit of the game.
The video that went viral shows Albanese playfully displaying a paper indicating the scoreline of 2-1 in Australia’s favour, while Sunak countered with a picture of England batsmen Mark Woods and Chris Woakes celebrating their recent Test match victory at Headingley.
Taking it further, Albanese produced a photo of England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow being controversially stumped in the previous match at Lord’s. Responding to that, Sunak, referring to the infamous ‘Sandpaper Gate’, said, “I’m sorry I didn’t bring my sandpaper with me.” This back-and-forth was a continuation of their previous banter in the row that occurred during the Lord’s match earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Sunak said, little reminder of last weekend… two more to go.
The incident at Lord’s, involving Bairstow’s stumping by Carey, caused uproar. Sunak criticised it as against the spirit of the game.
He “simply wouldn’t want to win a game in the manner Australia did,” reported Reuters quoting UK PM Rishi Sunak as saying in BBC report. Sunak further said he completely agree with Ben Stokes, who said that the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow was against the “spirit of cricket.”
Later, Albanese took to Twitter to say, I’m proud of our men’s and women’s cricket teams, who have both won their opening two Ashes matches against England. He also advised Sunak to stay out of the crease.
Despite historical tensions surrounding the Ashes rivalry, the encounter was described as amicable by a government source quoted in the UK’s Daily Mail..
The ongoing Ashes series has been marked by tensions and historical controversies, notably the 2018 ‘sandpaper gate’ scandal involving Australian players Steve Smith and David Warner. English fans have consistently booed Smith and Warner, referring to their involvement in the scandal. Chants mocking Smith, such as “We saw you cry on the telly,” have been heard throughout the series.
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