Following the unsavoury scenes that took place at the Lord’s Long Room with Australian openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner involved in an exchange with some of the Marylebone Cricket Club members, the club has suspended three of its members until an investigation takes place regarding the same.
MCC Chief Executive Guy Lavendar stated, “We maintain that the behaviour of a small number of members was completely unacceptable and whilst there was no suggestion by [the Australia captain] Pat Cummins in the post-match press conference that there was any physical altercation, it remains wholly unacceptable to behave in such a way, which goes against the values of the Club.”
The scenes unraveled after the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow on the final day of the England-Australia Test. In the 52nd over, Bairstow ducked a slow bouncer from Cameron Green and ventured out of the crease thinking that the ball was already ‘dead’. However, Alex Carey broke the stumps and third umpire Marais Erasmus adjudged it as a stumping in favor of Australia. Chasing a stiff 371 to win the match, England were eventually bested by 43 runs as the visitors took a 2-0 lead in the five-match Test series.
At Lunch, just as the Australian players made way into the dressing room via the Long Room, the broadcast footage showed Khawaja involved in a verbal altercation with a couple of MCC members present with his opening partner joining in defence. Per The Times London, the southpaw would then point towards one of the members while telling the security , “Make sure you get him kicked out.”
“Some of the stuff coming out of members’ mouths was really disappointing,” Khawaja was further quoted by Channel Nine post-match on Sunday. “I wasn’t going to stand by and cop it. A few of them were throwing out some pretty big allegations and if they kept going, well it’s your membership. I expect a lot better from the members.”
As per reports from the British publication, Cricket Australia have asked the MCC to investigate ‘multiple incidents’ that took place in the Long Room as the players made way into the dressing room.
While England captain Ben Stokes termed the scenes at Lord’s as ‘pretty mad’, former skipper Eoin Morgan was also taken aback by the same.
