(Reuters) -Steve Smith fired a comic counter-punch at former England spinner Monty Panesar when the subject of the 2018 Newlands ball-tampering scandal came up in his press conference on the eve of the Ashes opener on Thursday.
The stand-in Australia captain was asked about Panesar's recent comments that England should shame Smith over his involvement in "Sandpapergate" to get a psychological edge in the series, which starts in Perth on Friday.
Smith, who was banned for a year from elite cricket and stripped of the test captaincy for his role in the scandal, quickly pivoted to Panesar's less than impressive appearance on a British TV quiz in 2019.
"I'm gonna go off topic for a second here," the 36-year-old batter told reporters at Perth Stadium.
"Who of you in the room have 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 that believes that Athens is in Germany, that's a start, 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 responded in his column in London's Daily Telegraph.
"I simply cannot believe that the Australian captain on the eve of the Ashes brought up my Celebrity Mastermind performance from 2019," he wrote.
"I know I had an absolute shocker that day ... but at least it isn’t ball-tampering. I would actually ask Steve whether he can look himself in the mirror yet and admit that he was part of 'Sandpapergate', the worst example of Australian cheating in history.
"Steve has made a massive blunder, and I cannot wait to watch now how it plays out. Will it disrupt Australia? I hope so, as it could be just the thing that sways the series in England’s favour."
England last won an Ashes test Down Under in early 2011 and face a mighty challenge to wrest back the urn, which Australia have held since the 2017-18 series.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Alex Richardson and Chris Reese)
