The Lord's Long Room altercation will go down as one of the most disappointing incidents in the history of cricket. The story which began with the controversial dismissal of England's Jonny Bairstow by Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey during the second Ashes Test, had even bitter ending after the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) members, who were present in the long room, hurled abuses towards the Australian players while they were heading to the dressing room for Lunch. Things got more ugly when Australia opener Usman Khawaja claimed that he was racially abused by the members of MCC.
Retaliating on Khawaja's complaint, MCC took a strict action and the three members were suspended immediate effect. Many officials and former cricketers expressed disappointment on the issue and recently a report has been launched by Sydney Morning Herald, where it was stated that all the accused members might face a permanent ban.
According to Sydney Morning Herald, a detailed report of the Australian security manager will be taken into consideration along with the testimonies of all the other eye-witnesses.
"Identify and kick them out. There are lots of members who would never do that and lots waiting in the wings to take their spots if they won't appreciate them," SMH quoted a member as saying.
"It's literally written in the rules that you can't do that. Don't abuse players and in particular don't pick out the bloke who of all the Aussie team seems the nicest one and hasn't done anything ever to upset anyone," the member added.
Earlier, the MCC chairman had stated that the members who verbally abused Australian players during the second Ashes Test at Lord's have brought "shame" on the institution.
"The members shown on camera have brought shame on MCC. Their actions hinder our efforts to promote the positive things our club does to promote and celebrate the game of cricket," chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown said in an email to members.
(With AFP Inputs)