Luton’s Monty Panesar has hit back at Australia’s Steve Smith, turning the spotlight straight back on the stand-in skipper after his odd swipe at the e -England spinner on the eve of the Ashes.
Smith mocked Panesar’s Celebrity Mastermind performance during Thursday’s press conference in Perth, repeating answers to questions the bowler got wrong in the general knowledge round of his appearance six years ago. It was an unnecessary detour that surprised many, particularly given the magnitude of the Test series about to begin.
Panesar, however, has not let it pass. Speaking to Radio 5 Live, the 43-year-old drew a clear line between his blunders on a television show and Smith’s own ‘Sandpapergate’ ball tampering scandal that cost him the Australia captaincy in 2018.
“I’ve had some great moments for England and I’ve had shockers, and he’s had some great moments for Australia and he’s obviously had a very big shocker in South Africa,” Panesar said.
“We’ve both made mistakes. I made mine on a quiz show, he made his on a cricket field.”
Smith’s comments came after Panesar, in an interview with a gambling website, suggested England should make Smith feel “guilty” about Sandpapergate.
Yet Panesar, who featured in England’s 2009 Ashes triumph, has taken Smith’s fixation as a sign that England may already have landed a psychological blow ahead of reviving hostilities in one of the oldest sporting contests.
“What makes it more sort of pleasing is that the night before the Test match, he’s watching my Mastermind clips, memorising the questions and the answers,” the Lutonian said.
“And it kind of feels like England are already in his head and I can rattle the Aussies from sitting on my sofa.”
The former spinner admitted he was “surprised” Smith chose to bring up his Mastermind appearance, saying he expected something more even tempered from a senior player preparing to lead his country with Pat Cummins sidelined through injury.
“I think everyone from my media friends, to everyone in the media, have said they couldn’t believe Smith kind of responded in that way,” Panesar added.
“I thought everyone thought it would have been just a bit more, ‘right it’s OK, yeah fine, I cheated, it’s not a problem, I’ve moved on from that, it’s not an issue’.
“But because he’s done it in this way, I think he’s kind of opened up now for the England boys to really sort of go hard at him, play a few mind games with him and that could be the difference where he gets out early.
“And suddenly they’ll be sort of saying, ‘thanks Monty’ for just trying to engage in that conversation, of maybe seeing if you talk about sandpaper will it make him feel a little bit guilty or not?
“Look, I know I’m guilty of bad general knowledge but not ball-tampering. And I’ll take that everyday.”
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