Smith mocks Panesar Mastermind stint to hit back at sandpaper jibe

Steven Smith has hit back at a suggestion from the former England spinner, Monty Panesar, that he should be made to feel "guilty" for his role in the "Sandpaper-gate" ball-tampering scandal seven years ago, by invoking the memory of Panesar's failed appearance on Celebrity Mastermind.

Smith, who lost the Australia captaincy after his team was caught using sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball during a Test match in South Africa in 2017-18, has stepped back into the role on a temporary basis for Friday's first Ashes Test in Perth, with Pat Cummins missing with a back injury.

In a pre-series interview with an online betting company, Panesar had suggested that England's players should question the ethics of his re-appointment, and called on the UK media to add to the pressure too. "If it were the opposite, the Australian media would be all over it," Panesar said. "They would have said, if it was any of the English players, 'the cheaters have arrived.' Right?"

In what appeared to have been a pre-arranged answer at his pre-match press conference, Smith declared that he was going to go "off-topic" to respond to Panesar's comments.

"Who in the room has seen Mastermind, and Monty Panesar on that? Any of you?" Smith said, before listing several of the flustered answers that Panesar had given to presenter John Humphrys in a moment that went viral back in 2019.

"Those of you that have will understand where I'm coming from. If you haven't, do yourself a favour because it is pretty comical. Anyone that believes that Athens is in Germany, that's a start, or that Oliver Twist is a season of the year and America is a city.

"It doesn't really bother me, those comments. That's as far as I'll go with that one," he said, subsequently adding that he was "pretty chilled" on his return to the captaincy. "I'm a lot more relaxed these days."

It was a continuation of a typically frenzied build-up to the Ashes, which has featured off-field barbs from former players on both sides, as well as some eye-catching headlines in the local newspapers.

Smith's reaction to Panesar's comments did, however, appear to contradict his subsequent take on the Ashes phony war. "It's pretty standard," he later added. "I've been involved in a few now and there's always so many words said before the series. For us, I think it's about just ignoring the outside and concentrating on our processes, what we do well as a team, and trusting and backing that throughout."

Panesar, who claimed 167 wickets in 50 Test appearances, has not played Test cricket since featuring in England's 5-0 whitewash on the 2013-14 Ashes tour.

Last year, he briefly considered standing as an MP for George Galloway's Workers Party of Britain, but withdrew ahead of the General Election.