Last Update on: August 10th, 2023 at 03:48 pm
Steve Smith has become the latest high-profile name to speak publicly on the post-Ashes drink controversy. The English camp reportedly refused to share drinks with the Australian players after the conclusion of the fifth and final Test of the fiercely fought series.
All eyes were on the England team after the conclusion of the fifth Test, as the cricket world anticipated something dramatic due to the earlier events in the series. Following Jonny Bairstow’s controversial dismissal in the second Test, England’s head coach, Brendon McCullum, had stated that the England players were unlikely to share drinks with the Australian players.
And after the fifth Test in Manchester, the players failed to sit together in the dressing room for the traditional drinks. At first, reports stated that England flatly refused to share beers with the Australian players. But later, England captain Ben Stokes insisted that he and his teammates failed to make time for it due to the extended wrap-up. He also stated that both the teams had decided to meet up in a nightclub.
Steve Smith on drinks controversy:
Opening up on the incident, Steve Smith has expressed his disappointment and has called it a shame that England refused drinks with the Australian camp on multiple occasions. The former Australia captain stated that the Australian players knocked on the English dressing room door on a number of occasions but were disappointed.
“We did knock on the door a couple of times. We were waiting around a while and Stokesy came out at one point and said ‘two minutes’ and about an hour passed,” Steve Smith told SEN 1170’s The Run Home.
“We thought, ‘we can’t keep sitting here. Are we going to have a beer or not’? The guys got a bit fed up and decided it was time to go.
“It was unfortunate, it was the first time in my career that we’ve not had a drink with them after a series and it was a bit of a shame. They caught up with a few of the boys in the nightclub later on that night, I had gone home by that stage, but it was a shame not to have a beer and reflect on what was a pretty cool series,” he added.
The five-match series ended at 2-2 as Australia retained the Ashes. Steve Smith did not have the best of the Ashes by his standards but still managed to play a key role. The right-handed batsman scored 373 runs in 5 Tests at an average of 37.3 with the help of 1 century and 2 fifties.
