Pat Cummins did not spare England on the day Australia found themselves amid a chaos after the Lord's authorities opened the doors to the Indian team for a practice at the venue as against the Aussies just days before the start of the World Test Championship final against South Africa.
On Saturday, Australia's training for the one-off clash took a hit after they were informed that the Lord's ground was unavailable for a practice session. This forced them to take a three-hour trip to find a suitable practice ground in London. According to a report in Code Sports, Australia were denied permission at the ground to train in a bid to accommodate the touring Indian side, who are slated to play against England in a five-match Test series starting June 20. Aussies were, however, allowed to train on Sunday.
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'I'm sure it will be much more civil this time'
However, the incident did not anger Cummins, who later spoke to the media on Sunday night from the stadium. In fact, he took a rather brutal dig at England when reminded of the infamous incident at the Lord's during the 2023 Ashes, when one of the MCC members had misbehaved with Aussie batter Usman Khawaja following the contentious dismissal of Jonny Bairstow.
{{/usCountry}}However, the incident did not anger Cummins, who later spoke to the media on Sunday night from the stadium. In fact, he took a rather brutal dig at England when reminded of the infamous incident at the Lord's during the 2023 Ashes, when one of the MCC members had misbehaved with Aussie batter Usman Khawaja following the contentious dismissal of Jonny Bairstow.
{{/usCountry}}"I think this is the best version of the stadium this morning," he said Network 10's The Project. "There's no one around, which is great. I'm sure it will be much more civil this time around. Things got pretty heated in the middle of that Ashes series, but I think a lot of them will have learned their lesson and I'm sure they'll be very polite."
The MCC member was expelled, while two other executive members were suspended for verbally abusing the Australian team.
Cummins will be leading the bowling attack for Australia, with his supporting members being Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon. With Hazlewood back, Scott Boland will be missing out. Meanwhile, there are reports hinting that Australia selectors are keen on promoting Marnus Labuschagne to open the batting with Khawaja, further implying that Sam Konstas will not be part of the XI.