England’s traditional fan group Barmy Army has brutally roasted the Australian cricketers after they revealed their jersey for the 2019 World Cup.
The fierce rivalry between Australia and England is known to all. Both the top cricketing nation will lock horns on June 25 at the home of cricket – Lord’s on the grand occasion of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 which England are Wales are co-hosting. There are still a couple of weeks for the quadrennial event to kick off but the rivalry between England and Australia have already gained steam. The famous fan group of England – the Barmy Army – has posted photoshopped images of David Warner, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon with sandpapers in the hands of the latter two whereas ‘Cheats’ written in David Warner’s jersey.
The ‘sandpaper’ and ‘cheats’ jibe at the Aussies is clearly a hint towards Australia’s infamous ‘sandpaper gate’ incident in the third Test match in 2019 against South Africa following which led to David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft being banned by Cricket Australia. While Warner and Smith received a year-long ban, Bancroft was suspended for nine months.
Australia coach Justin Langer said his team won’t be rattled by a hostile reception at the World Cup as England’s Barmy Army gave them a taste of what to expect. The defending champions are on a hot run of one-day form and have been boosted by the return of Steve Smith and David Warner after their one-year bans for ball-tampering.
But a trip to England is never easy, and the visit for the World Cup — followed by an Ashes Test series — is shaping up to be even more challenging than usual after the cheating row. England’s fiery Barmy Army supporters rarely need much incentive to get stuck into their arch-rivals and got the ball rolling on Twitter Thursday with a brutal pot shot. In a taste of what to expect from British crowds, they doctored an image of Warner’s official World Cup player portrait, replacing ‘Australia’ on the front of his shirt with ‘Cheats’.
They also photo-shopped Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon holding sandpaper.
ELSEWHERE the good Aussie Blokes posed for the camera …. thus
