MCC members banned following feisty Ashes bust up
Lord’s EXPELS MCC member after Australian cricketers David Warner and Usman Khawaja were confronted in the Long Room during feisty Ashes series as exclusive club announces its sanctions
- Lord’s have announced its sanctions for the feisty Ashes Long Room scenes
- Furious cricket fans confronted Australia’s cricketers during the Lord’s Test
- An MCC member has been expelled while two others have been banned
An MCC member has been expelled after Australian cricketers David Warner and Usman Khawaja were confronted in the Lord’s Long Room by furious cricket fans during this summer’s hostile Ashes series.
The Australian opening batsmen and their team-mates were accused of cheating by furious Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) members following Jonny Bairstow’s controversial stumping on the final day of the second Ashes Test – which the tourists triumphed in to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
Bairstow wandered out of his crease at the end of an over – believing the ball was dead – only to be run out by Australia wicket-keeper Alex Carey who under-armed the ball at the stumps just before lunch, sparking ugly scenes at Lord’s.
Guy Lavender, the chief executive and secretary of the MCC, commended an ‘unforgettable day of Test cricket’ but said it may ‘sadly be remembered for other reasons’.
Cricket Australia demanded a probe in the feisty exchange, and now the MCC has announced its punishments following an investigation, with one member expelled from the club, while another has been given a four-and-a-half-year ban.
An MCC member has been expelled and two others banned for the feisty Long Room bust up
Angry cricket fans exchanged words with David Warner and Usman Khawaja during the Ashes
MCC members were incensed after the Aussies controversially dismissed Jonny Bairstow
A third member has been given a 30-month suspension. All three members were sanctioned for ‘abusive, offensive or inappropriate behaviour or language’.
Australia were accused of betraying ‘the spirit of the game’ after the Bairstow incident, and the series took a more volatile turn for the remaining three Tests, which ended in a 2-2 draw at the Oval.
When both sets of players walked off for Lunch, Khawaja and Warner were filmed arguing with angry members in the famous Long Room as boos rang out and shouts of ‘absolute disgrace’ were heard.
Khawaja could be seen angrily confronting a member before he was pulled away by a team-mate and staff member. Moments later, Warner also had to be held back by the security team as tensions boiled over.
The Aussies have since opened up on what happened between the two sets of players during that lunch break, with Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith revealing a frosty exchange took place between Warner and Bairstow.
Labuschagne said Bairstow refused to eat anything before firing a shot at opener Warner, to which the veteran responded tersely.
‘I was in the lunch room,’ he said. ‘Jonny was steaming, absolutely steaming. He walked in the lunch room and didn’t have lunch.
‘The Sky crew knew that Jonny was in there and they just replayed it on the screen. And as you do, everyone’s watching. Obviously seeing us all watch, he’s like “are you guys happy with that?”
‘David Warner’s spitting out his chicken and goes “yeah, very.” The only words said.’
The Australians were accused of betraying ‘the spirit of cricket’ at Lord’s this summer
Wicketkeeper Alex Carey threw the ball back at the stumps when Bairstow had wandered out of his ground, believing that a Cameron Green delivery was dead
Steve Smith added: ‘It was funny,’ while Mitch Marsh said the Aussies struggled to stifle their laughter after Warner’s comment.
‘Remember at school when the teacher tells you off and you shouldn’t be laughing? Well, I was trying to eat my soup, so if you can imagine, I’m eating my soup and I’m shaking like this, and I’m just trying to look down and I look up at Jonny and I had pumpkin soup coming down my whites.’
Travis Head said: ‘I had my back turned to Jonny but I could imagine Jonny looking at us and when David said, “very”, me and a few others got the shoulder shakes.
‘He (Bairstow) would have seen three shoulders pucking with their heads down.’
And Usman Khawaja claimed that even some of the England stars found the exchange amusing.
‘I walked out with a couple of the English boys and they were giggling,’ he said.
‘Bairstow still hasn’t eaten anything. He sat the whole time. So I’ve finished up and left and Jonny hadn’t touched anything.’
Australia’s stars have since spilled the beans on a very awkward lunch at Lord’s in the Ashes
However, British television presenter and vociferous England supporter Piers Morgan has fumed at the Aussies’ boastful antics in the video, labelling the players ‘miscreants’.
‘If there’s one thing worse than Australia so brazenly abusing the spirit of cricket, it’s seeing the miscreants now chortling away about it,’ he tweeted.
‘Stokes should play this video to his team before the next Ashes series. In fact, he should play it to them every day between now and then.’
The hostilities continued for the remainder of the series, culminating in the players not sharing beers after the fifth Test at the Oval.
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