'Same Old Aussies – Always Winning': Australian PM Anthony Albanese Taunts England After UK Counterpart Rishi Sunak's Ashes Criticism

Australian PM Anthony Albanese's tweet seems to be in response to British PM Rishi Sunak's statement backing Ben Stokes' stance that the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow was against the spirit of the game.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has responded hours after his British counterpart was not at all pleased with the way the Australian men's cricket team claimed the wicket of England's Jonny Bairstow on Day 5 of the second Test match at the Lord's, London. While the British PM Rishi Sunak had backed the host country captain Ben Stokes' take that the dismissal was against the spirit of the game, Albanese's latest tweet seems to be a taunt aimed at the Three Lions as he has claimed how Australia is "always winning."

Notably, the controversial dismissal happened on the final day of the Lord's Test when Bairstow left a Cameron Green bouncer and was wandering outside his crease. However, he failed to take note that the ball was still in play, an error on his part which was noticed by the Australian keeper Alex Carey who collected the ball and threw the ball back at the stumps to caught Bairstow short of his crease. Despite there being no attempt of taking a run on Bairstow's part, he was deemed out as he should have been more careful and remained inside his crease.

The dismissal has divided the cricketing world with a section of the fans and pundits claiming that the decision was legal and hence there should be no problem with it while others have suggested that the way in which Bairstow's wicket was claimed by the Aussies was against the spirit of the game. 

As per a report in The Mirror, British PM's official spokesperson had said: "The Prime Minister agrees with Ben Stokes, who said he simply wouldn't want to win a game in the manner Australia did."

However, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has now put out a tweet seemingly in response to Sunak's remark and said: "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  @ahealy77, @patcummins30and their teams and look forward to welcoming them home victorious 👏."

 

Meanwhile, former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott has demanded a public apology from Australia. "If you want to win at all costs then cricket should not be for you. We want people to play hard and fair but surely there are standards to uphold?" he wrote in his column for Telegraph.co.uk.