Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) on Sunday issued an apology to the Australian men’s cricket team and their opener Usman Khawaja over a heated exchange in the Lord’s Long Room after Jonny Bairstow’s dismissal on Day 5 of the second Ashes Test.
A furious Lord’s crowd booed Australia off and chanted “same old Aussies, always cheating” after wicketkeeper Alex Carey controversially dismissed Jonny Bairstow. As they walked away from the Lord’s Long Room to a barrage of abuse, the video showed Khawaja stopping to confront an MCC member as the Australian opener appeared to take offense at a comment made by the man in question.
Security guards had to step between Khawaja and the member before leading him to the dressing room. Another video showed the extent of the comments directed at the Australians as they climbed the stairs, with Khawaja’s fellow opening batter David Warner stopping to make a comment to the member in question.
“The Long Room is unique in world cricket and the great privilege of players passing through the Pavilion is very special. 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,” MCC’s statement read.
Australia call for probe into Lord’s Long Room ‘verbal abuse, physical contact’
“Australian management has requested the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) investigate several incidents involving spectators in the members area during lunch on day five of the Lord’s Test.
“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.”
