Piers Morgan brands Aussie cricketers ‘cheating convicts’ and says England have been robbed of victory in ‘greatest series there’s ever been’

Piers Morgan has taken aim at the Australian cricket team once again, with the British TV host branding Pat Cummins’ side ‘cheating convicts’ amid their feisty Ashes series against England.

Morgan, 58, was left infuriated by the antics of Alex Carey at Lord’s, in which the Australian controversially stumped rival wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow when the Englishman thought a Cameron Green delivery was dead.

The Talk TV anchor has kept up his tirade against the tourists ever since, and vented his fury on Sunday when Australia escaped a chastening defeat at Old Trafford due to the weather, meaning that they have retained the Ashes. 

And speaking on the Telegraph’s Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club Podcast, Morgan bemoaned the good fortune of the Australians this summer, insisting that cricket fans have been robbed of one of the sport’s greatest series.  

‘This was building to one of the all-time great series — forget Ashes — of any cricket series, internationally, in history,’ he said.

Piers Morgan has labelled Australia ‘cheating convicts’ in another attack on the cricket team

Australia retained the Ashes in fortunate circumstances after drawing at Old Trafford

‘To be 2-0 down and then roar back to 2-2 and then go to the Oval, which is exactly what would have happened had we been able to play more than two hours at the weekend … it would have been, really, the greatest comeback in cricket history internationally and the greatest series there’s ever been.

‘We should have won at Lord’s, we should have won every Test, let’s be honest. We’re a better team, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. We were dudded by the rain, and I think at the Oval we’re going to flatten them. We need to.

‘I don’t want to lose 3-1 – to lose 3-1 to this Australian team of cheating convicts would be extremely annoying.’

While the likes of Ricky Ponting have claimed Ben Stokes’ captaincy should be under more scrutiny than Pat Cummins’ leadership, Morgan lavished praise on the England skipper, but conceded that some modifications to Bazball may be needed.

‘When we were at Lord’s, when we gave away all those wickets, when we were 180-odd for 2 and then just fell apart, some of the shots we were playing – Harry Brook’s innings that day was terrible,’ he added.

‘Yet you can see as the series has gone on he’s got more sensible, more judicious in his shot selection, and you could see the world-class player in the making.

Morgan praised Ben Stokes’ captaincy despite England being at risk of a first home series defeat to Australia in 22 years

‘I think they [England] lost their heads a bit at Lord’s, but I totally understood why Ben Stokes is keen to say, ‘Look, you’ve got to let us do our thing’ because he’s trying to instil in them that constant attacking mentality.

‘I absolutely love everything about Ben Stokes. I think he’s got that warrior spirit. When he gets going, the thing about Stokes is he doesn’t go berserk for the sake of it; he doesn’t play crazy shots.

‘He’s playing measured, brutal shots, but he can take a game away from people like no one I’ve seen. We take him for granted. He is unbelievable. I love the fact that nothing deters him; he doesn’t make apologies.’