Monty Panesar and Steve Smith exchange barbs ahead of Ashes Test
A verbal clash has erupted between retired England bowler Monty Panesar and Australian skipper Steve Smith on the eve of the opening Ashes Test in Perth, reports BritPanorama.
The confrontation began when Panesar suggested that England’s players should remind Smith of his involvement in the 2018 ball-tampering controversy to unsettle him psychologically.
Smith’s response was swift and cutting. Rather than addressing the sandpaper allegations directly, he ridiculed Panesar’s performance on the BBC’s Celebrity Mastermind programme from 2019, where the former spinner managed just a single correct answer during the general knowledge segment.
The Australian captain demonstrated remarkable recall of Panesar’s quiz show blunders during his pre-match press conference. “Anyone who believes that Athens is in Germany, that’s a start, or Oliver Twist is a season of the year and America is a city, doesn’t really bother me those comments,” Smith stated dismissively.
He encouraged journalists to watch the programme for themselves, describing it as “pretty comical”. Smith’s decision to reference specific wrong answers from a six-year-old television appearance suggests he had either watched the episode recently or retained an unusually detailed memory of Panesar’s performance. The former England international refused to be cowed by Smith’s mockery when speaking to BBC Radio 5Live.
“We’ve both made mistakes. I made mine on a quiz show, he made his on a cricket field,” Panesar retorted pointedly. He suggested that Smith’s detailed knowledge of the quiz programme revealed psychological vulnerability, claiming that “the night before the Test match he’s watching my Mastermind clips, memorising the questions and the answers and it kind of feels like England are already in his head, and I can rattle the Aussies from sitting on my sofa.”
The ex-spinner maintained that Smith’s response demonstrated that the ball-tampering affair remained a raw nerve. “It’s obviously still a sensitive subject for him,” he concluded. The sandpaper controversy that Smith referenced occurred during Australia’s tour of South Africa in March 2018. Cricket Australia imposed year-long suspensions on both Smith and his deputy David Warner following revelations of deliberate ball tampering during the Cape Town Test. Cameron Bancroft, who physically applied sandpaper to the match ball, received a nine-month ban.
Smith acknowledged at the time that the Australian leadership group had orchestrated the scheme, describing their actions as a “big mistake.” The scandal forced Smith to relinquish the captaincy and remains one of Australian cricket’s most infamous episodes.
As the Ashes series looms, the exchange highlights the complex interplay between personal rivalries and professional pressures in the high-stakes world of international cricket. There’s a certain irony in how past controversies can resurface and reshape narratives, keeping the spotlight firmly on both players as they gear up for the match ahead.
