Lord’s chiefs forced to apologise to Australia after shock altercation in famous Long Room following Ashes ‘cheat’ storm
LORD’S chiefs have apologised to Australia’s cricket team after Usman Khawaja and David Warner appeared to be confronted in the Long Room.
Australia sealed a dramatic 43-run victory over England on the final day of the Second Ashes Test on Sunday.
But the result was marred by controversy after Jonny Bairstow was dismissed when Alex Carey stumped him as he wandered out of his crease.
The incident divided cricket fans – with the home crowd labelling the Aussies “cheaters”, while others criticised Bairstow‘s naive batting.
Australia were booed off at lunch as they made their way into the dressing room.
But the jeers continued into the Long Room – where the usually mild-mannered Lord’s dignitaries sit.
And as Khawaja walked through, he stopped to have what seemed to be a heated exchange with one of the members.
The 36-year-old was eventually ushered away by officials, before Warner came over and engaged in his own spat.
And the Marleybone Cricket Club [MCC] were forced to release a statement apologising for the incident.
It read: “The Long Room is unique in world cricket and the great privilege of players passing through the pavilion is very special.
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“After this morning’s play, emotions were running high, and words were unfortunately exchanged with some of the Australian team, by a small number of members.
“We have unreservedly apologised to the Australian team and will deal with any member who has not maintained the standard we expect through our disciplinary processes.
“It was not necessary to eject anyone from the ground and I am pleased to say that there was no repeat of this as the players resumed the field for this afternoon’s session.”
Yet despite the apology, Cricket Australia have called for a probe into the altercation.
Their statement read: “It is alleged players and staff from the Australian team were verbally abused, with some being physically contacted, as they made their way to lunch through the members area.”
Former England captain Nasser Hussain reacted to the bizarre scene, saying: “In all these years, I’ve never seen anything like that in the Long Room.”
Meanwhile on the pitch, Ben Stokes took his understandable anger from the Bairstow dismissal out on the Aussie bowling attack as he smashed three successive sixes on his way to a remarkable century.
The session ended with Stokes and Stuart Broad needing 128 to lead England to victory.
And the pair reduced the run chase to 70 after lunch, before Stokes was dismissed for a sensational 155.
Ollie Robinson and Broad walked shortly after England’s captain, with Josh Tongue and Jimmy Anderson then putting on a 25-run stand for the final wicket.
But Tongue was eventually bowled by Mitchell Starc as the Aussies took a giant step towards retaining the Ashes.