Overview
- On the eve of the first Test, Steve Smith mocked Monty Panesar’s Celebrity Mastermind errors, reciting the gaffes in media comments.
- Panesar replied in a Telegraph column and on BBC Radio 5, saying bad quiz answers beat ball-tampering and arguing Smith is still sensitive about 2018.
- He urged England to sledge Smith over Sandpapergate, proposing barbs about swinging the ball without sandpaper and asking whether it’s fine or coarse.
- Smith is serving as Australia’s stand-in captain for the Perth Test in Pat Cummins’ absence.
- The exchange has unfolded through interviews and columns as both men lean into pre-match mind games around a key batter.