Australia captain Steve Smith embarked on an astonishing broadside against former England spinner Monty Panesar as the build-up to tomorrow's first Ashes Test took a bizarre twist in Perth.

Panesar, who played the last of his 50 Tests during the 2013-14 tour of Australia, had suggested that England should make Smith 'feel guilty' about his role in the sandpaper scandal that cost him the captaincy in 2018.

Panesar told a betting website that England should 'Say something like, "I don't think it's ethical that he's the captain, I don't think he played the game fairly". 

'Really get into him and make him feel guilty about it. Make him feel like, "they're probably right, I shouldn't be here, I shouldn't be doing this".

'This is where the UK media must also focus and put pressure. Use it as a way to help England. I hope that England uses it as an advantage and don't just get quiet about it because we know he bats well when he's captaining Australia.

'If it were the opposite, the Australian media would be all over it. They would have said, if it was any of the English players, "the cheaters have arrived". Right?'

Asked about his comments on the eve of the first Test at Perth Stadium, Smith – stand-in captain in the absence of the injured Pat Cummins – mocked Panesar's appearance on BBC TV's Mastermind in 2019, when he only registered a point in the general knowledge round amid a collection of increasingly odd answers.

'I'm going go off topic for a second here,' said Smith. 'Who in the room has seen Mastermind and Monty Panesar on that? Any of you? 

'Yeah. Well those of you that have, you'll understand where I'm coming from, and those of you haven't, do yourself a favour, because it's pretty comical.

'Anyone who believes that Athens is in Germany, that's a start, or Oliver Twist is a season of the year and America is a city, doesn't really bother me those comments. Yeah, that's as far as I'll go with that one.'

In May, 2019, Panesar wrote exclusively for Daily Mail Sport about his infamous appearance on the long-running BBC show. 

He wrote: 'I wanted to win Celebrity Mastermind. Just as I'd wanted to be famous for my cricketing excellence, I'd wanted to steal the show by racking up an unassailable lead in my specialist subject and then picking off the general knowledge questions.

'It didn't quite happen like that. I thought the first round went OK. I got six out of eight and thought I'd done pretty well, but back in the dressing room I can remember asking everyone their scores and no one really wanted to talk about them.

'John Humphrys made awkward conversation for a few seconds and then bowled me a long hop for the opening question.

'How many pockets are there on a snooker table?' Almost too easy. 'Six!' I said. I'm on my way.

'What sign of the zodiac is represented by a crab?' 'Scorpion… Sagittarius?' 'Cancer.' S***. I knew that.

'What is the title of AA Milne's stage adaptation of Kenneth Graham's The Wind in the Willows?' 'Harry Potter?' 'Toad of Toad Hall.'

Never mind, if it comes to a tiebreaker it'll be decided on passes, so it's better to give the wrong answer than no answer.

'What is the standard international unit of absolute temperature? It is indicated by the letter K.' 'Oh, gosh… pass.'

'Which Asian island city state is served by Changi International Airport?' 'Shanghai?' 'Singapore.'

'Birds described as pelagic spend most of their lives flying over what?' 'The sky?' 'The sea.'

'In what 1997 film do a group of unemployed men become strippers for the night in their local working men's club?' 'The Dreamboys?' 'The Full Monty.'

'In which city is the Olympiastadion, built for the 1972 Olympics and where Germany's national football team played until 2001?' 'Er … Athens?' 'Munich.'

'What was the second volume of CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia to be published, following on from The Magician's Nephew?' 'CJ Lewis?' 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.'

'What were the five guys called in the title of the hit musical that was a tribute to the jazz blues man Louis Jordan?' 'Pass.'

'In an 1819 poem, what season of the year does Keats describe as a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness?' 'Oliver Twist?' 'Autumn!'

'In which city is the television series Cheers set?' 'America.' 'Boston.'

'Car crash doesn't do it justice. It was like the Titanic ramming the Hindenburg. In the moments afterwards I was angry, because it was so embarrassing.

'When it went out I was with my family and I didn't want to watch, but for me to say Oliver Twist was, I suppose, why there's only one Monty Panesar. It's my character, it's why people remember me.

'Hardly anyone will remember who won that particular episode of Celebrity Mastermind. They'll remember me all right.'

Smith certainly remembered as the build-up for the first Test took an unexpected turn.

Panesar, 43, spoke publicly about his mental health struggles in the same year as he appeared on Mastermind. 

He has battled with depression and also drinking to excess, as well as suffering with paranoia and anxiety. In the peak of those issues, Panesar was released by his county, Sussex, in 2013 after an incident that involved urinating on a bouncer outside a club.

In 2024, Panesar raised eyebrows with a brief sojourn into politics, announcing his candidacy for George Galloway's Workers Party of Britain before quitting just a week later. Writing on social media, he said he needed more time to 'find my political home.'

Panesar took 167 wickets for England in total but perhaps his most memorable Test with the team came as a batsman, making a brilliant last-wicket stand alongside Jimmy Anderson to save the Ashes Cardiff Test of 2009, earning a crucial draw that would help England then go on and win the series. 

Ahead of Friday's hugely-anticipated opening Test of the series, Smith earlier confirmed Australia's final XI for Perth, with debuts for opening batsman Jake Weatherald and seamer Brendan Doggett, and no place for all-rounder Beau Webster.