‘Same old Aussies – always winning’: Australian PM Anthony wades into Ashes controversy

Diplomatic spat over the Ashes intensified again today after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mocked the England cricket team and supporters, declaring ‘Same old Aussies – always winning’.

The left-wing politician waded into the controversy surrounding Ashes’ win in Australia after Rishi Sunak slammed the Aussie team, saying their stupidity against Jonny Bairstow was not in the “spirit of the game.”

Bairstow went out of his way to talk to Ben Stokes believing the over was over when Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey hurled the ball to his stumps and it was called out, earning the Australian win and sparking outrage in the UK.

The incident at Lord’s on Sunday has sparked a major row between the two teams and now tensions between political leaders. Hours before Mr Albanese spoke out about ‘Stumpgate’, the former Australian High Commissioner to Britain told England fans to ‘stop crying’.

And this morning the Australian Prime Minister tweeted that he was “looking forward” to welcoming Captain Pat Cummins ‘home victorious’ – despite the Ashes still being up for grabs.

‘Same old Aussies – always winning’ taunted Mr Albanese, referring to the chants of ‘same old Aussies, always cheating’ that echoed across the grounds after Bairstow’s controversial dismissal by the visitor.

The manner of their win has rocked the sport – and sparked angry scenes at Lord’s – after the England wicketkeeper’s punching was branded against the ‘spirit of the game’.

Australia was booed by the 32,000 fans at Lords for the rest of the day and in unprecedented scenes, Australian stars David Warner and Usman Khawaja had to be separated from the members by security in the world famous Lord’s Long Room.

MCC members then lined the famous steps to shout swear words at the celebrating Australians as they returned to their dressing room shouting ‘cheat, cheat, cheat’ at them. There were repeated cries of ‘sandpaper’ to the players – a reference to the 2018 scandal in which Steve Smith and others rubbed the ball with sandpaper to make it swing more, one of the worst examples of cheating in modern times.

“Australia are right behind Alyssa Healy, Pat Cummins and their teams… Proud of our men’s and women’s cricket teams, who both won their first two #Ashes games against England,” Mr Albanese tweeted.

Earlier, Mr Sunak’s official spokesman said the Prime Minister agreed with criticisms leveled at the Australian team that their actions were not in line with the spirit of cricket.

“The Prime Minister agrees with Ben Stokes who said he just wouldn’t want to win a game like Australia did,” he added.

But Downing Street downplayed the prospect of Mr Sunak clearing up the row when he next speaks to Mr Albanese.

“I think the public would want the Prime Minister to focus on core issues of the UK-Australia relationship and while there will always be a friendly rivalry I think there will be more focus on more core issues,” the spokesman said.

Mr Albanese’s comments were praised and criticized in equal parts, with fans of the Australian team’s conduct praising the Prime Minister for supporting his troops.

“This might be the best thing you’ve ever tweeted,” one said, while another wrote “more of a reason why Australia is going to be a republic and cut ties with losers.” Bad at that.

“I’m an England supporter, but this is much ado about nothing. He’s gone, go back to the cricket.’

But critics said Mr Albanese should not support a ‘men’s team that cheats’, urging him not to ‘endorse such unsportsmanlike conduct’.

Former Australian Prime Minister and ‘cricket tragedy’ John Howard refused to get carried away with the details of the incident at an event in London on ‘The Politics of Cricket’.

“I don’t know of an Ashes series that hasn’t had a problem with judging versus the strict letter of the law,” he said, adding that “the spirit of cricket … means a lot of things to a lot of people.”

Britain’s Sir John Major was also on the panel and said the ‘real fracture’ of the cricketing spirit was the poor treatment of players after the match.

“What I think, whatever happened on the field, whatever people thought about it, was unforgivable,” he said. “And I hope it won’t happen again.”

The manner of the Australian team’s victory sparked angry scenes at London’s Marylebone Cricket Club on Sunday.

Three members of the MCC, including some of the richest and most powerful people in Britain, have been suspended after several Australian players were ‘verbally assaulted’ or ‘made physical contact’.

Defeated England captain Ben Stokes said: ‘Would I want to win a game that way? No. If the shoe was on the other foot, I would have thought about the whole spirit of the game’.

Coach Brendon McCullum said, “I can’t imagine we’re having a beer anytime soon.”

And on the pitch before the defeat, a furious Stuart Broad told Cummins: ‘That’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in cricket’ before turning to Carey and warning him: ‘That’s all you’ll ever be remembered for’.

Despite the backlash, Captain Pat Cummins claims the stumping was fair.

Mr Sunak praised the MCC’s ‘quick action’ against members who confronted the Australian team.

“He thinks it was right that the MCC took swift action to suspend any member accused of misconduct,” the prime minister’s spokesman said.

“He was there when Nathan Lyon came to bat on Saturday. Obviously he was in a lot of pain and he got a standing ovation from the members there and I think he felt that was much more in line with the spirit of the game.