Cook had said that Carey had not paid for his haircut in London and ditched the barber.
The second Test of the ongoing Ashes 2023 series was played in London at the Lord’s which had seen Alex Carey stumping Jonny Bairstow out on day five of the intriguing encounter when the batter after having letting a bouncer go by, walked out his crease for gardening.
After much deliberation, the TV umpire gave Bairstow out, which led to Lord’s crowd booing Carey and the Australian team for lack of spirit of the game.
Carey had received some hostile welcome from the crowd at Headingley in the ongoing third Test as well when he had come out to bat for Australia. And it is clear, that the Australian stumper is not the most well-liked person in England.
Amidst several slanders, former England captain Alastair Cook leveled a bizarre accusation on Alex Carey of not paying for a haircut in London.
While commentating on Day 2 of the 3rd Test Match of the Ashes 2023 series, Alastair Cook said that Carey went to a barber who accepts cash only, and said that he would transfer the money later, which he did not.
“The barber says the Australians had been in. He didn’t know his cricket very well, so he was telling me what they looked like. He said Marnus (Labuschagne), the funny one. Then David Warner had a haircut, Usman (Khawaja) had a haircut and he says, ‘Oh there’s another one …,” Cook said while on commentary on BBC Test Match Special.
“He says, ‘One of them, I think Alex is his name’. I said, ‘Alex Carey, wicketkeeper?’ He says, ‘He hasn’t paid’. It was one of those cash-only barbers, and he promised him he would do a transfer later on in the day. True story. He might have paid by now,” Cook added.
Adam Mahmood, who works at Doc Barnet’s Barber Shop in Leeds, told The Sun: “We don’t accept cards, and Alex said he had no cash on him. There’s a Tesco cash machine literally around the corner he could have run to. He could have nipped back to their hotel and been no more than five minutes, but instead, he said he would transfer it.
Maybe he forgot. I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt, but if it’s not paid by Monday, I won’t be happy.”
However, Steve Smith and Cricket Australia rejected all the allegations of Carey not paying for his haircut as he had never visited a barber in London or gotten a haircut, to begin with.
“I can confirm Alex Carey has not had a haircut since we were in London. Get your facts right The Sun,” Australian vice-captain Steve Smith posted to Threads.
Then on Saturday, Cook apologized for the misunderstanding.
“There’s also been a bit of fuss around on a rainy day, a bit of news about a haircut which might have been discussed on the radio the other day. A case of mistaken identity, so I apologize for the mistaken identity to Alex Carey,” Cook said on BBC TMS.