England cricket group accused of ANOTHER airport blow-up with Aussie media simply hours after safety guard’s conflict with cameraman
A staffer travelling with the England cricket team has been accused of having an unsavoury run-in with an Australian journalist just hours after another Three Lions staffer lashed out at a cameraman.
The staff member allegedly mouthed the word ‘pr**k’ at a reporter for Adelaide’s Sunday Mail newspaper after the team landed in the city on Saturday afternoon to prepare for the third Ashes Test.
Journalist Darren Chaitman claimed the altercation began when he approached skipper Ben Stokes and asked if he planned to sightsee in Adelaide.
Chaitman’s footage shows Stokes react by saying, ‘Have you just been recording me for that whole time?’
The reporter admitted he had been filming and asked Stokes, ‘You don’t like that?’
‘Not really, you didn’t make me aware you were there,’ Stokes replied, before telling another England staffer, ‘He’s just been recording me the whole time without telling me.’
The incident at Adelaide Airport began when England skipper Ben Stokes (pictured) objected to being filmed by an Australian reporter
Journalist Darren Chaitman (pictured) accused a security guard with the England team of mouthing the word ‘pr**k’ at him during a flare-up on Saturday afternoon
The incident came just hours after another England security guard, Colin Rhooms (pictured), clashed with a Channel Seven cameraman at Brisbane Airport
Stokes turned back to Chaitman and said, ‘I would have gladly said something to you if you had made yourself aware to me.’
The skipper then told a second team staffer, ‘So he’s just been behind me recording everything I was saying.’
Chaitman said, ‘No, no, I wouldn’t, I didn’t record stuff you were saying.’
At that point the second staffer, who has a shaved head and was wearing sunglasses, stood directly in front of Chaitman and said, ‘You don’t have to put your phone down but it’s nice if you did.’
The staffer rejoined Stokes briefly, then returned to Chaitman, who again denied he had recorded what Stokes said.
‘Pleased to meet you, lovely,’ the staffer said.
‘It’s good that we live in a world these days with these kind of freedoms, isn’t it?’
The staffer then walked off.
England players are pictured leaving the pitch after losing the second Test in Brisbane
The Three Lions’ preparation for the Ashes – and decision to have a two-day break in Noosa after the Gabba defeat – have come in for heavy criticism
Chaitman alleged the staffer swore at him soon afterwards in a moment that was not recorded.
‘As I took the escalator behind them toward the baggage collection area … the security man stared furiously at me before mouthing: “Pr*ck”,’ Chaitman wrote.
The alleged clash occurred soon after another security guard for the Three Lions, Colin Rhooms, was caught on camera clashing with a cameraman from Australia’s Channel Seven network at Brisbane Airport just before the flight to Adelaide.
In a video posted by Seven on X, Rhooms can be seen repeatedly telling the cameraman to ‘get out of my face’ as the tourists prepare to check in.
Seven described his actions as ‘lashing out’.
A still photo released by CODE Sports also shows Rhooms keeping the cameraman at bay with an outstretched arm as he attempts to film the players.
The England Cricket Board declined to comment on either airport incident when contacted by the Daily Mail.
Stokes and his team had just enjoyed a break at Noosa on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, just north of Brisbane, before flying to Adelaide.
The decision to take the holiday came after coach Brendon McCullum said he felt the team ‘over-prepared’ for the second Test at the Gabba, which they lost to drop to 2-0 down in the series.
While the trip to Noosa was planned before England arrived Down Under, the decision to go ahead with it despite the loss has gone down like a lead balloon with cricket fans.
The Three Lions have also been criticised by fans and greats of the British game for what many see as their inadequate preparation for the Ashes.
The team only played one warm-up match in Australia before the first Test in Perth, and declined to field their stars in a pink-ball match in Canberra in the lead-up to the match in Brisbane.
