Australia captain Steve Smith launches weird assault on Monty Panesar, dredging up his AWFUL Celebrity Mastermind solutions, in response to sandpaper jibe on the eve of the Ashes
Australia captain Steve Smith embarked on an astonishing broadside against former England spinner Monty Panesar as the build-up to tomorrow’s first Ashes Test took a bizarre twist in Perth.
Panesar, who played the last of his 50 Tests during the 2013-14 tour of Australia, had suggested that England should make Smith ‘feel guilty’ about his role in the sandpaper scandal that cost him the captaincy in 2018.
Panesar told a betting website that England should ‘Say something like, ‘I don’t think it’s ethical that he’s the captain, I don’t think he played the game fairly.’ Really get into him and make him feel guilty about it. Make him feel like, “they’re probably right, I shouldn’t be here, I shouldn’t be doing this”.
‘This is where the UK media must also focus and put pressure. Use it as a way to help England. I hope that England uses it as an advantage and don’t just get quiet about it because we know he bats well when he’s captaining Australia.
‘If it were the opposite, the Australian media would be all over it. They would have said, if it was any of the English players, “the cheaters have arrived”. Right?’
Monty Panesar failed to register a point in a general knowledge round on Mastermind
Asked about his comments on the eve of the first Test at Perth Stadium, Smith – stand-in captain in the absence of the injured Pat Cummins – mocked Panesar’s appearance on BBC TV’s Mastermind in 2019, when he failed to register a point in the general knowledge round amid a collection of increasingly odd answers.
‘I’m going go off topic for a second here,’ said Smith. ‘Who in the room has seen _Mastermind _and Monty Panesar on that? Any of you?
‘Yeah. Well those of you that have, you’ll understand where I’m coming from, and those of you haven’t, do yourself a favour, because it’s pretty comical.
‘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. Yeah, that’s as far as I’ll go with that one.’
Earlier, Smith confirmed Australia’s final XI for Perth, with debuts for opening batsman Jake Weatherald and seamer Brendan Doggett, and no place for all-rounder Beau Webster.
