Speaking exclusively with BOYLE Sports former English Cricketer Monty Panesar has spoken ahead of the second Ashes Test predicting a lively atmosphere at the iconic Gabba Cricket ground while also giving his honest assessment of recent comments made by both Steve Smith and Darren Lehman
Elsewhere, he reflected on his own experiences playing in an away Ashes in Australia, England's Key Players ahead of the second test and his prediction for how he see the 2025 Ashes Series finishing.
The Gabba
"Lively" Atmosphere
They should expect a lively atmosphere. The Barmy Army are going to be there, and they are passionate fans. They’ve already got songs for all the different players as well. But at the Gabbatois - that’s what they call it over there - they really support their team. You can expect the fans to be a bit more hostile, and it’s the sort of atmosphere where Australian fans are going to be really supporting their team. England have got to embrace that.
I remember when Peter Siddle took a hat-trick in Brisbane (in 2010/11), and the environment was electric. They’re going to think, let’s take on this challenge.
The fans in Brisbane really get behind their team, and they know everything about England, but they soon turn against Australia as well if England are playing well. I remember when Alistair Cook batted for such a long period of time to draw the match at The Gabba, and the Australian media switched very quickly, and so did the fans. The fans started leaving early on the 5th day, knowing they couldn’t get Cook’s wicket.
England have got to understand that the fans can switch very, very quickly. It’s going to be passionate, boisterous and hostile in nature, but England have got to embrace that energy.
Steve Smith
Reacting To Steve Smith
I was a little bit surprised knowing that he knew my answers to the questions the day before the Test match, and the funny thing was that I’m able to rattle Australians by sitting on the sofa! That gave me a bit of pleasure, but it would have been nice if England had won that Test match; that would have been even better. The British media didn’t really make anything out of it when I was talking about the sandpaper incident. Maybe Ben Stokes can use it as a psychological edge.
Steve Smith had obviously read about it, and he was thinking in the press conference that the British media were going to bring it up, but I didn’t think the British media was going to bring it up at all. But then he’d memorised everything, and I thought, well, I’m going to reply back, why not? I’m guilty on a quiz show, he’s guilty… and the rest is history.
He only got 17, and when he first came out to bat, you could sense his nerves. The Barmy Army were singing [to the tune of the Cranberries’ Zombie ] ‘he’s in your head, Monty, Monty, Monty!’ and I thought, he’s not himself, and he wasn’t batting like we know Steve Smith can. He’s obviously a great player, one of the greatest of all time, and he will be remembered as one of the greatest Australian batsmen. We all know how great of a captain he is - he’s strategically very good, and the thinking from him to bring Travis Head to the top of the order was great.
It’ll be up to the England team whether they really use that as an ammunition, a psychological edge or does Ben Stokes thinks, I don’t want to go down that route. And for me personally, my general knowledge is so bad - I’m still trying to find Auckland in Australia. I still can’t figure out where it is!
Darren Lehman
"Barmy Army"
In their defence, they’re going to say it’s banter, it’s just sledging, and that’s part of the game. That’s what the Barmy Army are, but they also have a code of conduct as well. They emphasise the code of conduct that if there’s any abusive behaviour, fans will be chucked out. If they feel that they’ve gone over the line when it comes to where banter is not banter or sledging and it becomes abusive behaviour, they’ve got it in their code of conduct that they won’t be allowed in.
At the moment, they haven’t thrown anyone out, and I don’t envision that they’ll throw any of the fans out because rumour has it, they’ve got a song for Darren Lehmann coming out in Brisbane. The Barmy Army don’t let anyone go!
Career Reflections
Australian Ashes Experience
When you first enter the country, the headlines are so aggressive in your face - you feel like a criminal yourself. You think, maybe I shouldn’t be here? It’s immediate intensity in the media. I remember a couple of other players went to McDonald's, and the front page of the newspaper was asking me, ‘Where do you park your elephant, mate?’ - I was thinking, oh gosh, and they are really in your face. They’re really in your face, and it’s constant pressure. They do it to destabilise the team, and it’s a tactic that the Australian media always uses.
They want to destabilise the team, and they want to do a cutting analysis of your playing style. I just panned dead and they used to say ‘Monty the pan dead doesn’t give responses about anything’, They would say ‘you know you can’t turn it, he’s a club cricketer, he should probably be playing second grade cricket, he can’t bat and he can’t field,
The Ashes is there for the taking if this is the number one spinner’ - so I was known as the Grade Cricketer. I didn’t even make it into the first Grade in the Australian media and public - this is the stuff they come hard at you with. You get the feeling you’re playing against the whole country. If you don’t play well, everyone just keeps telling you about it - the concierge person, the waiter, and if you go out for a meal, the cab driver will say, ‘You know you could bowl a bit quicker because Gilchrist hit for you six.’ I thought, This is great and everyone knows that I need to do better.
Ben Stokes and the players have got to understand that these are tactics to destabilise our team, and they’ve got to be better than that. They’ve got to know that they’re going to throw headlines at us and go after us, but we’ve just got to stay strong as a team and as a unit. We just protect each other, keep our confidence strong as a team, and do not let external noises affect our environment. That’s one of the reasons why they haven’t sent any of their players to the pink ball warm-up game: to show unity.
When you’re on an Ashes tour, it’s all about protecting your teammates. It’s about making sure your teammate is not down in the dumps and staying strong mentally. You’ve got to be up for the challenge, and it’s about the team spirit staying very strong.
England’s Key Players
England’s Key Players
There are a few players who will be key to turning the series around. The all-round performances of Ben Stokes will be crucial again - he didn’t strike this last Test with the bat, and he’s got to make sure that gap between bat and pad against someone like Mitchell Starc isn’t so big. His performance is going to be so important. Joe Root’s batting is also going to be key if he can play a more traditional style of batting rather than the aggressive approach like Harry Brook and the others. He should take a leaf out of Sachin Tendulkar’s book, for example - he never played a cover drive when he scored 240 in Sydney.
If he can bat for long periods of time, then England will have a chance, a very good chance of posting a good total. The impact is also that the bowlers will get a rest. They can’t just rest for 30 or 40 overs and come back again and bowl hostile spells; they need a good day’s rest. The pace bowlers like Mark Wood are going to be massive; they definitely had the Australian batsmen jumping in Perth. They’ve got a beautiful pace, and hopefully both of them (Mark Wood and Joffra Archer) can perform really well at Brisbane because I think both of them will play.
When Australia will be bowling, there will be a period of time when they are bowling well, and they need Brook to bat with another batsman who soaks up the pressure. While Brook does the counterattacking, the other should defend. We can’t have both attacking because we don’t want two new batsmen at the crease. Brook is a wonderful talent and I hope he can come into his own and work out a good method in Brisbane as to how to take on the Australian bowlers.
Series Prediction
Series Prediction
I’ve already said that I thought it’s going to be one-nil England after the Test match in Perth, so this is a must-win for England. Let’s put it into two categories - there’s the first two match series at the moment, and the next series starts in Adelaide. England have got to think about winning this Test match, and then our tour starts.
If they win in Brisbane, then they’ve got a chance. If they don’t, then we all know what the story is. I hope they can turn this around because we don’t want two-day Test matches, we don't want people to switch off halfway through The Ashes and watching Premier League football. For world cricket, for Cricket Australia and for everyone who’s watching the game, England need to win. If England can win, the climax for Adelaide will be unbelievable, so it’s important that England can come back again, firing on all cylinders and beat Australia at Brisbane.
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