Monty Panesar has claimed he has ‘rattled’ Steve Smith’ after the Australia captain endured a dismal start Ashes in Perth, amid their ongoing war of words.
An out-of-sorts Smith was dismissed for 17 by Brydon Carse as Australia looked to respond to England’s first innings total of 172.
The stand-in skipper had several near misses before losing his wicket, as he struggled to settle against England’s pace attack.
Smith had gone for a series of big shots, but played and missed on several occasions, was struck on both his elbow and hand, and survived after a top edge before being dismissed.
The Australia star had been involved in a war of words with Panesar on the eve of the Test, after the former England international suggested Ben Stokes’ side should make Smith ‘feel guilty’ about his role in the sandpaper scandal that cost him the captaincy in 2018.
Smith was asked about Panesar’s comments, with the stand-in captain responding by mocking his appearance on the BBC’s Mastermind in 2019.
Panesar hit back by stating: ‘We’ve both made mistakes. I made mine on a quiz show, he made his on a cricket field.’
Speaking to Daily Mail Sport, Panesar said that Smith had been ‘all over the place’ with the bat on the opening day of the series.
Panesar suggested that England would have targeted Smith, having sensed that the batsman had been ‘rattled’ by discussion over the past couple of days.
‘He was really all over the place, to be honest,’ Panesar said, speaking ahead of the launch of BallsApp.
‘He was hitting balls back of the length, trying to hit it over cover, and then he got hit it on the elbow, on the finger, which we don’t see very often.
‘It was very difficult for him, he didn’t bat like we’ve seen him bat. He played and missed so many times. Eventually [he got out] to one ball that nipped, and it was a fantastic catch by Harry Brook.
‘There could be that possibility where the England players have said a few things or just the way you look at someone with that body language where you think “wow he’s a number 11 batsman who doesn’t know how to bat. He [Panesar] has somehow rattled you.”
‘You can think has it got to him or hasn’t it, because he really wasn’t himself today when he played.
‘When I played for England, the coaches and the captains, we would have just meeting about targeting certain players and how do we deal with it.
‘100 per cent they must have done that, and I think they must have targeted him. In a way, they have probably been thinking maybe we will target Steve Smith a bit more.
‘He possibly feels a little bit sensitive about the subject and it’s kind of worked in England’s favour, they’ve been absolutely brilliant today. They really rose to the occasion.’
Panesar praised England’s ‘hostile’ fast bowling attack for their performance on the first day of the series, after they reduced Australia to 123-9 at the close of play in Perth.
The former England international, who played the last of his 50 Tests during the 2013-14 tour of Australia, suggested that Smith ‘could have a challenging time during the Ashes’ if Stokes’ side can replicate that performance.
Panesar’s latest comments come after Smith had attacked his performance on BBC’s Mastermind.
Panesar had registered a point in the general knowledge round amid a collection of increasingly odd answers.
‘I’m going go off topic for a second here,’ said Smith. ‘Who in the room has seen Mastermind and Monty Panesar on that? Any of you?
‘Yeah. Well those of you that have, you’ll understand where I’m coming from, and those of you haven’t, do yourself a favour, because it’s pretty comical.
‘Anyone who believes that Athens is in Germany, that’s a start, or Oliver Twist is a season of the year and America is a city, doesn’t really bother me those comments. Yeah, that’s as far as I’ll go with that one.’
Panesar, who is watching the first Test in Sydney, will travel to Brisbane and Adelaide as the series continues.
He admitted it could be ‘fun and games’ should he bump into the Australian star at some stage of the five Test series.
‘Who knows, I may bump into him,’ Panesar said.
‘He may have his bat next to him as I meet him, you never know with him, you know, he can be quite temperamental.
‘It’ll be a lot of fun and games if I do meet him.’
Monty Panesar was speaking ahead of the launch of BallsApp. A mobile platform that reimagines how we enjoy ball sports, starting with cricket. Built on ball-tracking tech and Web3 incentives, the app turns any open space into a smart cricket training zone and delivers real-time performance feedback, skill-based challenges, and tokenized rewards. Pre-register now at BallsApp.io
