British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has received a stump-splaying delivery from Anthony Albanese, who says Australia remains "right behind" the national cricket teams.
Sunak on Monday accused the Australians of breaching the spirit of cricket, adding to the national pile-on over the controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow in the second Ashes Test at Lord's.
But Albanese used his official Twitter account to hit back on Tuesday morning, heaping praise on the men's and women's teams, both of whom are enjoying successful tours.
"I’m proud of our men’s and women’s cricket teams, who have both won their opening two #Ashes matches against England," the prime minister wrote.
"Same old Aussies - always winning! Australia is right behind @ahealy77, @patcummins30 and their teams and look forward to welcoming them home victorious."
Australia's men are bracing for more harsh treatment from crowds at Headingley this week, after a dramatic 43-run win at Lord's gave them a 2-0 lead in the Ashes series.
English media on Monday put the boot in, with several references to the word "cheat" on front and back pages.
The right-wing Daily Express and Metro ran with a bodyline-themed 'Just Not Cricket' headline, while London's Telegraph labelled Bairstow's stumping an 'underhand dismissal'.
England captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum hit out at Australia in the dramatic postscript to Sunday's match, saying they would have withdrawn the appeal.
Sunak backed the pair's claims, with his office telling reporters in the UK the PM was unhappy with Australia's behaviour.
"The prime minister agrees with Ben Stokes. He said he simply wouldn’t want to win a game in the manner Australia did," a spokesman for Sunak's office said.
“He has confidence England will bounce back at Headingley.”
Asked whether Sunak believed Australia’s had not upheld the spirit of cricket, the spokesman said: “Yes”.
Sunak's views are at odds with several celebrated players, with England's former red- and white-ball captains Andrew Strauss and Eoin Morgan among those defending the tourists.
India star Ravichandran Ashwin - involved in controversial 'mankad' dismissals of his own - also backed Australia's actions.
“The keeper would never have a dip at the stumps from that far out in a Test match unless he or his team have noticed a pattern of the batter leaving his crease after leaving a ball like Bairstow did,” Ashwin posted on social media.
“We must applaud the game smarts of the individual rather than skewing it towards unfair play or spirit of the game.”
Former Test cricketer Sir Geoffrey Boycott used his column in The Telegraph to call for Australia to apologise on Monday.
"Australia need to have a think about what they did and make a full public apology," Boycott wrote.
"If you want to win at all costs then cricket should not be for you. We want people to play hard and fair but surely there are standards to uphold?"
