‘The guys got a bit fed up’ – Steve Smith presents Australia’s side of story on beer controversy post Ashes finale

Steve Smith Press Conference. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Australia batter Steve Smith recently broke the silence on the post-Ashes beer controversy where players of both sides couldn’t join each other for a drink. While there have been many angles on the story so far, Smith narrated how visitors waited for England for quite some time after the final game in London and the latter didn’t turn up.

Smith stated that they knocked on the door for hosts to celebrate the moment but they were too busy with Stuart Broad’s farewell. The Australian also added that their players got quite fed up waiting for them for over an hour. Notably, Broad and some of the other staff members of England’s set-up were to depart after the closing Ashes game.

“We did knock on the door a couple of times. We were waiting around a while and Stokesy came out at one point and said ‘two minutes’ and about an hour passed,” Smith told SEN.

The 34-year-old was of the belief that the incident was very unfortunate and a bit shameful as they didn’t share a drink after a pretty cool series. Later, it was revealed by Ben Stokes that the two sides met at a nightclub that day and Smith but left for home by then.

“We thought, ‘we can’t keep sitting here. Are we going to have a beer or not’? The guys got a bit fed up and decided it was time to go. It was unfortunate, it was the first time in my career that we’ve not had a drink with them after a series and it was a bit of a shame.

“They caught up with a few of the boys in the nightclub later on that night, I had gone home by that stage, but it was a shame not to have a beer and reflect on what was a pretty cool series,” Smith added.

After Australia went 2-0 up in the five-match series, England bounced back in style while clinching two of the remaining three games to settle scores. Australia retained the urn as the series ended in a draw.