PERTH — Three weeks before the start of the Ashes, Metallica played Optus Stadium. So it was apt Steve Smith held court at the same venue on the eve of the first Test. Enter “Sandpaperman”, if you will.

Not that Smith would like that gag given his deplorable press conference rant at Monty Panesar in response to a clearly pre-planned question about the England cult hero’s suggestion that Ben Stokes’ team should sledge Australia’s stand-in captain about the 2018 Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.

You may not have seen Panesar’s comments he gave on behalf of obscure bookmaker AceOdds.com a few weeks back. They were barely picked up by publications in the UK. New Feature

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“Ben Stokes and the England team have got to make Steve Smith feel g

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