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Ashes 2023 is still a few weeks away but the war of words has already started between the two sides. Veteran England pacer Stuart Broad has reacted to left-arm pacer Mitchelll Starc’s claim that England players during previous Ashes were not in quarantine as they had access to the pool, the gym and stayed in a resort at Gold Coast.
“How many Test matches did Starcy play away from home during Covid? Trying to do the maths on it. Zero wasn’t it?” Broad wrote in a comment on Barmy Army’s Instagram which had Starc’s quote.
What Broad said
Broad had earlier said that he won’t count England’s 4-0 loss on Australian soil in the Ashes as there were restrictions on players which affected their performance.
"Nothing was harsher than the last Ashes series. But in my mind, I don't class that as a real Ashes," Broad was quoted as saying to the Daily Mail last month.
"Nothing about that series was high-level performance because of the COVID restrictions. The training facilities, the travel, not being able to socialise. I've written it off as a void series," he added.
Starc's fiery reply
In reply to Broad's statement, Starc emphasised that England players were not confined to their rooms, had top-notch facilities at their disposal and even had families with them.
"The funniest thing out of that was they called it quarantine on the Gold Coast. I did seven of them. That was the easiest by a country mile," Starc was quoted as saying to the Sydney Morning Herald.
"The Poms had the pool, the gym, they were in a resort on the Gold Coast, they trained at Metricon (now Heritage Bank Stadium), weren't confined to their rooms and had their families there.
"Was that really quarantine? They were still allowed to play golf on tour. Is that an excuse for 4-0? Dunno. It was a pretty good series to be a part of," he added.
The last time Australia toured England for the Ashes was in 2019. Despite Ben Stokes’ Headingley heroics, Australia were able to retain the Ashes on the back of Steve Smith and his famous concussion substitute Marnus Labuschagne.
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