Australian cricketer Steven Smith, on the eve of the first Ashes Test, called out Monty Panesar’s interview in the BBC quiz show, in which the left-arm spinner incorrectly referred to the capital of Germany as Athens and America as a city.
Smith’s comments came after Pansear’s suggestion to England’s team of getting under the skin of Smith in the upcoming Ashes 2025. Panesar asked Ben Stokes’ men to refer to the 2018 sandpaper gate as a tactic.
In 2018, Smith, alongside David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, was caught for ball tampering in a Test match at Cape Town in South Africa and received appropriate fines and bans.
“I’m gonna go off topic for a second here,” Smith started his counterattack on Thursday. “Who among you in the room have 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,” he said theatrically. “Anyone that believes that Athens is in Germany, that’s a start; Oliver Twist is a season of the year and America is a city, ……” Smith added.
Responding to Smith’s comments, Panesar, in his column for the Telegraph, wrote: “To think that he wanted to talk about me before one of the biggest days of his career — when he will lead Australia out against England as he stands in for absent captain Pat Cummins — is flattering, and nothing short of hilarious.”
“I cannot believe he has dug out the old YouTube clip of my shocker and memorised it word by word. I must admit I am delighted to have got so far inside his head, but if I am able to achieve that, imagine how much damage Ben Stokes and his side are going to be able to do once play starts in Perth?” he added.
“We’ve both made mistakes, but at least mine was on a celebrity quiz show. His was on a cricket field, and we both have to live by them. It seems right now only one of us can,” wrote Panesar.
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“I would actually ask Steve whether he can look himself in the mirror yet and admit that he was part of “sandpapergate”, the worst example of Australian cheating in history. Steve has just displayed a massive weakness and mental vulnerability that, at this level of elite sport, you cannot afford to do,” Panesar wrote.
“Look, we are all cricketers at the end of the day and I had some great days playing for my country, but I also had some shockers. He has had a lot of great days playing for his country but he has had one very big shocker: that day in South Africa in 2018. If I was Jofra Archer, I would be telling him “I’m swinging the ball even without sandpaper!”, or if I was Joe Root I’d be in his ear, “tell us how you do it mate, fine or coarse paper? Tell us the tricks of your trade,” he added.
