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<\/div>\nRishi Sunak attends the second Ashes Test at Lord’s\u00a9 AFP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday aimed a verbal bouncer at Australia’s cricketers after the Lord’s Ashes match — but ruled out turning it into a Bodyline-style diplomatic incident. Jonny\u00a0Bairstow’s controversial dismissal was not in keeping with the spirit of the game, Sunak’s spokesman told reporters. “The prime minister agrees with (England captain) Ben Stokes<\/a> who said he simply wouldn’t want to win a game in the manner that Australia did,” the spokesman said. But Sunak, a keen cricket fan who watched with Prince William from the Lord’s pavilion on Saturday, also deplored the Long Room abuse directed at the Australians by Marylebone Cricket Club members.<\/p>\n “He thinks it was right that the MCC have taken swift action to suspend any members accused of poor behaviour,” the spokesman said.<\/p>\n Sunak believed that the standing ovation given by MCC members to Australia’s hobbling spinner Nathan Lyon<\/a>, as he came out to bat on Saturday, was “much more in keeping with the spirit of the game”.<\/p>\n But Sunak has no intention of lodging an official protest with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, to reprise the serious diplomatic strains created by England’s “Bodyline” tactics in the 1932-33 Ashes Down Under.<\/p>\n While there is a “friendly rivalry” over sport between the two leaders, Sunak does not view cricket as a core diplomatic issue, the spokesman remarked.<\/p>\n “The game did provide an opportunity to see Ben Stokes at his best and it was an incredible Test match — he has confidence that England will bounce back at Headingley,” he added, after Stokes hit a blazing 155.<\/p>\n (This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)<\/i><\/p>\n