The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the custodians of the laws of cricket, have unreservedly apologized to the Australia team over an altercation of a member in the Long Room at Lord’s with Usman Khawaja and David Warner.
The incident happened after the first session on day five of the recent second Ashes 2023 Test match at the Lord’s between England and Australia.
The dismissal of Jonny Bairstow, who was stumped by Alex Carey off Cameron Green, after the batter left his crease thinking the over was finished, left a sour taste in the mouths of England team fans.
The English fans got to work and the Australian team was booed across the venue. Chants of 'Same Old Aussies, Always Cheating' were heard audibly.
Some dramatic scenes unfolded as the Australian team walked back through the long room to the visitor’s dressing room.
The members standing in the long room didn’t hide their disgust at the actions of the Australian team during the first session of play and jeered at them over Bairstow's dismissal. Some players chose to engage in a confrontation with those present in the room after the booing continued.
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Australia’s opening pair of David Warner and Usman Khawaja were seen getting into a heated altercation with an old member of the MCC and had to be separated by team members and security officials in the venue.
Former England captain Eoin Morgan, who has played for Middlesex in county cricket and had Lord’s as his home ground, said: “I arrived here as a 16-year-old kid and was lucky to have played my whole career here and I have never seen scenes like that, particularly in the long room, never mind all the way around the ground. There is a huge sense of frustration and I can understand why. It is complete naivety around Jonny Bairstow’s dismissal.”
However, now, the MCC released a statement on Twitter stating that they had unreservedly apologized to the Australian team.
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They stated: "The Long Room is unique in world cricket, and the great privilege of players passing through the Pavilion is very special. After this morning's play, emotions were running high, and words were unfortunately exchanged with some of the Australian team by a small number of Members.
"We have unreservedly apologized to the Australian Team and will deal with any Member who has not maintained the standard we expect through our disciplinary processes. It was not necessary to eject anyone from the ground, and we are pleased to say that there was no repeat of this as the players resumed the field for this afternoon's session."
Australia registered a 43-run win in Lord’s Test to go 2-0 up in the five-Test series despite England captain Ben Stokes’ valiant knock of 155 runs.
