OK proper rant time.
Remember when Virat Kohli, while fielding, told the Indians in the crowd to stop heckling Steve Smith? Now that was the spirit of cricket.
Five years later, these English crowds want to accuse Australia of being cheats 100 times a day, publicly make fun of Steve Smith's mental health, and Stuart Broad and the English team have hyped up the crowd and played off it. Then the MCC members, who write the rules of the game, abuse the Aussies for playing within said rules. Peak irony. Where are the strong words from McCullum and Stokes coming out against the MCC members?
They are more than happy to have the "laws of the game" apply to them when it suits but play the gate-keeping moral high-ground when it goes against them.
To then double-down on it and accuse Australia of not playing in the spirit of the game when the heat of the event has died down shows mental fragility and poor sportsmanship.
These blokes admitted to ball tampering with cough lollies and sunscreen the entire 2005 Ashes series and got Knighted for it. The Aussies copped the biggest suspensions for tampering in the history of the game, took their medicine, and they aren't willing to forgive or forget.
Remember when before the series, Broad came out and said the previous Ashes series loss felt "void" because of the bubble/isolation requirements? Then they "felt like they won" the first test? Now they are complaining about 1 wicket in a match where they won the toss, sent us in to bowl under cloudy conditions, conceded 400, then got to bat in bright sunshine and threw all their wickets away when in a dominant position?
We haven't won there in 22 years, they move to all out aggression and are now 2-0 down in the series.
Perhaps they should start looking within.
