'Worse than being called Ed Sheeran?' - Tim Paine takes a dig at Ben Stokes for hypocrisy

Australian Test Captain, Tim Paine has not travelled along with the team to South Africa as the short tour comprises only of limited-overs matches. The two sides will first collide in a 3-match T20I series before competing in a 3-match ODI series. However, Paine has still managed to grab the headlines with his controversial statement on the English cricketers and their approach towards sledging.

Recently, English all-rounder, Ben Stokes was in the news for his verbal exchange with a fan during the ICC World Test Championship series against South Africa. The fan tried to tease Stokes however, the all-rounder came up with a proper reply for him. The Aussie Test skipper felt that this approach of the English players is not fair. First, they do not like when they sledged by the fans and then, the Barmy Army does the same thing with the other players.

‘This is one of the things that’s always irked me’: Tim Paine 

Talking to The Daily Telegraph on Friday, Paine opened up his mind on the recent controversy involving Ben Stokes and said– “… This is one of the things that’s always irked me, particularly with the English. You cannot react to the crowd (and play the victim, like Stokes), but then always encourage the Barmy Army to do exactly the same, and worse – abuse players.

He further referred to one of the Tests that Australia played in Edgbaston and continued– “Like we had in Edgbaston … they clap them at the end of the days’ play and make a big point of thanking them, as like the 12th man, or 13th player.”

Now that the Australian team has come back to South Africa, the very place where David Warner and Steve Smith were involved in an infamous ball-tampering scandal two years ago, Tim Paine said that the way the English fans behaved with Warner and Smith during the Ashes was worse than the Ed Sheeran taunt that the South African fan hit on Stokes.

“Worse than being called Ed Sheeran? I think they might have. Absolutely, all the time. And it wasn’t just Steve and Dave, it was everyone,” said Paine while signing off.

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