Watch: ’Didn‘t bring my sandpaper’ – Rishi Sunak, Anthony Albanese engage in cheeky Ashes banter at NATO summit

Watch: United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was involved a cheeky banter over the 2023 Ashes with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese at the ongoing NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.

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Anthony Albanese had tweeted his support for the two Australian cricket teams – women’s and men’s – both of whom are currently touring England for their respective Ashes.

On a similar note, avid cricket fan, Rishi Sunak had also weighed in with his opinion on Alex Carey’s stumping of Jonny Bairstow during the Lord’s Test match of the ongoing Ashes.

I promised @AlboMP I’d give him one of our ministerial folders.

Naturally it came with a little reminder of last weekend… two more to go. pic.twitter.com/AizRwePOXe

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 11, 2023

Thus, when Sunak and Albanese met at the 2023 Vilnius summit, it was only a matter of time before the 2023 Ashes came up.

Albanese began the banter, bringing out a sheet bearing 2-1 in large font, depicting the current result of the men’s Ashes (Australia two, England one after three Test matches).

Sunak responded with a printout of Chris Woakes and Mark Wood celebrating England’s win at the recently concluded Headingley Test match.

I promised @AlboMP I’d give him one of our ministerial folders.

Naturally it came with a little reminder of last weekend… two more to go. pic.twitter.com/AizRwePOXe

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 11, 2023

Albanese now unearthed a printout of Carey’s stumping of Bairstow, uttering “I was going to be really provocative”.

To this, Sunak laughed out loud before responding with “I’m sorry, I didn’t bring any sandpaper with me,” referring to the 2017/18 Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.

Neither Sunak nor Albanese is the first national head from their respective countries with a fandom for cricket. In 2018, Theresa May, an avid cricket fan, was fast-tracked to an MCC member, jumping a waiting list of 230,000.

May was nominated by former John Major and seconded by David Cameron, both former prime ministers. Major’s book, More Than a Game: The Story of Cricket’s Early Years, contains invaluable research material from cricket’s early days.

Before them, Alec Douglas-Home played first-class cricket, and even toured with an MCC side; and Clement Attlee installed a newswire machine at 10 Downing Street to follow County Championship scores.

Among Australians, Robert Menzies began the traditional Prime Minister’s XI that often plays against touring sides to Australia, and wrote (and read out) a poem dedicated to every member of an Ashes touring side.

In 1990, Bob Hawke (and Major) played a three-over double-wicket match at Harare, against Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan (also a first-class cricketer) and Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of Maldives.