Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his UK counterpart Rishi Sunak engaged in a light-hearted banter during their meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Lithuania.
It all started after Albanese presented Sunak with a piece of paper that read the current Ashes series scoreline ‘2 -1’ in favour of Australia.
In response, Sunak brought out a picture of Chris Woakes and Mark Wood celebrating England’s win in the third Ashes Test at Leeds.
Afterwards, Albanese said, “I was going to be really provocative” and pulled out a photo of Jonny Bairstow being stumped out by Alex Carey for wandering out of his crease.
“I’m sorry I didn’t bring my sandpaper with me,” Sunak replied instantly, referring to the Australian cricket team’s involvement in the ball-tampering scandal in 2018.
Taking to Twitter, Sunak wrote: “I promised Anthony Albanese I’d give him one of our ministerial folders. Naturally it came with a little reminder of last weekend … two more to go.”
Earlier this month, Bairstow’s dismissal in the second Ashes Test at Lord’s sparked the Spirit of Cricket versus Laws of the Game debate.
Bairstow was given out as Carey threw the ball at the stumps when the English batter walked out of his crease after ducking a bouncer from Cameron Green. The Australians appealed and the decision was referred to the third umpire Marais Erasmus, who did not take much time in giving Bairstow out.
While the decision divided opinions, British PM Rishi Sunak felt it was not in keeping with the spirit of the game.
"The prime minister agrees with (England captain) Ben Stokes who said he simply wouldn't want to win a game in the manner that Australia did," Sunak's spokesman told reporters.
In the wake of that contentious dismissal, Australian PM Anthony Albanese took an indirect dig at the English fans and media for calling the Aussies "cheat".
"I’m proud of our men’s and women’s cricket teams, who have both won their opening two #Ashes matches against England. Same old Aussies – always winning! Australia is right behind Alyssa Healy and Pat Cummins and their teams and looks forward to welcoming them home victorious," Albanese tweeted.
