Panesar vs Smith: Ashes banter heats up over Sandpaper-gate and Mastermind

Former England spinner Monty Panesar has fired back at Australia captain Steve Smith, escalating an already lively war of words ahead of the first Ashes Test in Perth.

Panesar, who played the last of his 50 Tests on the 2013-14 Ashes tour, had suggested earlier this week that England should make the stand-in Australia captain "feel guilty" about his role in the 2018 sandpaper scandal. Smith, asked about those remarks in the press conference on the eve of the Test, chose to respond by referring to Panesar's 2019 appearance on BBC's Celebrity Mastermind, an episode remembered for a string of wrong answers.

"I'm going to go off topic for a second here," began 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, though, wasn't inclined to step back, doubling down when asked about Smith's jibe and steering the conversation right back to sandpaper. "We've both made mistakes. I made mine on a quiz show, he made his on a cricket field," Panesar told BBC Radio 5Live. "The night before the Test match he's watching my Mastermind clips, memorising the questions and the answers and it kind of feels like England are already in his head and I can rattle the Aussies from sitting on my sofa.

"It's opened up now for the England boys to really go hard at him, play a few mind games with him. It could be that difference where he gets out early and suddenly they're saying "thanks Monty".

"I know I'm guilty of bad general knowledge, not ball tampering. It's obviously still a sensitive subject for him and I think no one thought he would respond in this way. I suppose he's clearly trying to deviate from the subject, but still quite a sensitive one for him."

Smith was banned for 12 months in 2018 for his involvement in the ball-tampering incident in Cape Town, a sanction that also applied to then vice-captain David Warner. Cameron Bancroft was handed a nine-month ban.