Australian players Usman Khawaja and David Warner were pulled into a heated argument with Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) members on the final day of the Ashes Test at Lords. The incident occurred when the Australian team were on their way to the dressing room at Lunch.
Controversy at the Lords
The dismissal of England’s Jonny Bairstow on day 5 of the second Ashes Test between the two teams caused a major controversy, resulting in Australian players getting booed by a section of the crowd. Bairstow was stumped at the match after he ducked a bouncer and immediately left the crease to go to Ben Stokes. Meanwhile, Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey hit the stumps and Bairstow was given out after a review.
England’s coach Brendon McCullum and Captain Ben Stokes said with the dismissal, the Australians broke “the spirit” of the laws of the game.
Here is the video of the controversial dismissal.
Usman and Warner’s argument with MCC members
A video of the incident showed Usman Khawaja stopping to confront an MCC member in the Long Room after he appeared to take offense at a particular comment from the man. Security guards then stepped between the player and the member. Warner also stopped to make a comment directed at some of the MCC members and the security guards broke him away as well.
The MCC has released a statement apologising for the actions of the members. “After this morning’s play, emotions were running high and words were unfortunately exchanged…by a small number of members,” an MCC spokesperson said. The MCC has said it will “deal with any member who has not maintained the standard we expect”.
Cricket Australia also asked the MCC to investigate the matter.
Usman’s reaction to the Long Room incident
Reacting to the incident, Usman Khawaja slammed the MCC members for using “abusive language”. In an interaction with Channel Nine, Usman said, “It was really disappointing.”
“Some of the stuff that was coming out of the members’ mouths is really disappointing…So I just talked to a few of them.”
“It’s pretty disrespectful, to be honest. I just expect a lot better from the members,” he added.