The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has backed the Australian cricket team after criticism of Jonny Bairstow’s dismissal at Lord’s on Sunday, declaring both the men’s and women’s teams are “always winning”.
The comments on Tuesday come after the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, weighed into the controversy, declaring the Australian team had contravened “the spirit of cricket” by stumping Bairstow when the England batter appeared to believe the ball was not in play during a heated final day of the second Ashes Test.
The dismissal proved pivotal in helping Australia win the match, taking them to a 2-0 series lead with three Tests left to play, but sparked an ugly backlash.
A hostile crowd had chanted “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, cheats, cheats, cheats!” and “same old Aussies, always cheating!” following the stumping, and there was a confrontation between Lord’s members and Australian players at the lunch break.
On Tuesday Albanese posted to social media: “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], [Pat Cummins] and their teams and look forward to welcoming them home victorious.”
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, @patcummins30 and their teams and look forward to welcoming them home victorious 👏
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) July 3, 2023
On Monday the assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, said that the incident was “pretty unfortunate”, before clarifying he was referring to “the treatment [the Australian team] received in the Long Room” rather than the initial stumping.
“I think the cliche here is: it wasn’t cricket,” he told ABC News Breakfast.
“[Their treatment] after the match was unsportsmanlike and not cricket and doesn’t reflect well on those involved. Tough game and between ourselves and the Poms … it’s always going to be hotly contested. I thought what happened after the match and during lunch yesterday [was] not good.”
Ben Stokes, the England captain, said after the match he would not have wanted to have won the game in such a way, and on Monday No 10 said the UK prime minister agreed.
Sunak’s spokesperson said: “The PM agrees with Ben Stokes. He said he simply wouldn’t want to win a game in the manner Australia did.”
Asked specifically if he thought the Australians had contravened the spirit of cricket, the spokesperson said: “Yes.”
But Sunak’s spokesperson said he was unlikely to raise the issue with Albanese. “I think the public would want the prime minister to focus on the core issues of the UK-US-Australia relationship,” the spokesperson said. “Whilst there’s always going to be a friendly rivalry, I think they will be focused on more core issues.”
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