WATCH: Rishi Sunak, Anthony Albanese engage in cricket banter at NATO Summit

The rivalry between the Australian and England cricket teams in the Ashes series has reached new heights, with the involvement of the Prime Ministers of both the countries. Following the controversial dismissal of Jonny Bairstow in the Lord’s Test, Australian PM Anthony Albanese and his UK counterpart Rishi Sunak engaged in a lighthearted exchange. However, they took it a step further when they met in person.

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And of course we discussed the #Ashes pic.twitter.com/FeKESkb062

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) July 11, 2023

Albanese shared a video in which he and Sunak jokingly discussed the ongoing Ashes series. The Australian PM proudly displayed a paper with “2-1” written on it, highlighting Australia’s lead after the first three Tests.

Sunak responded by showing a picture of England’s win in the Leeds Test, to which Albanese countered with a picture of the infamous Bairstow dismissal. They shared a laugh, with Sunak jokingly mentioning not having brought his “sandpaper.”

Albanese expressed his pride in the Australian men’s and women’s cricket teams’ victories in their opening two Ashes matches against England, and he tweeted his support for Alyssa Healy, Pat Cummins, and their teams.

Both the leaders also touched upon topics such as AUKUS, technology transfer, economic challenges, and the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement.

With inputs from agencies