England’s World Cup hero, Ben Stokes was born and brought up in New Zealand. And the Australian captain, Tim Paine went on to remind Stokes of his Kiwi heritage on Day 5 of the first Ashes Test.
Before lunch, Paine was heard crystal clear on the stump mic saying, “Sir Richard Hadlee, Sir Ben Stokes.” He mentioned New Zealand’s greatest-ever all-rounder and associated him with the man who aspired to be England’s next big thing.
//twitter.com/Vuyo_Nova/status/11583468🌸18981388289
Stokes had spent the first 12 years of his life in New Zealand 🌃before sไhifting to England. He also turned down nominations for the New Zealander of the Year award last month.
This is not the first time Paine’s light-hearted jibe has been captured on the stump mic. The keeper kept pricking with his words during the Border-Gavaskar series in the past.
In the Perth Test, the sledging expert was heard saying to Indian opener Murali Vijay, “Murali I know he’s (Virat Kohli) your captain but you can’t seriously like him? You can’t seriously like the bloke.”
Also during the Boxing Day Test, Paine took a provocative dig at Rishabh Pant. He ꦐmocked Pant as if approaching him for the babysitting task.
“Tell you what, big MS (Dhoni) is back in the one-day squad too, we might get him down to the (Hobart) Hurricanes this bloke, we need a batter,” Paine poked while Pant was batting.
“Fancy that Pant, extend your little Aussie holiday. Beautiful town Hobart too. Get you a nice apartment on the water front.”
“Have him over for dinner. Can you babysit? (Can I) take the wife to the movies one night, you can look after the kids?”
