‘Didn’t bring my sandpaper’

Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese went back in forth with a few jesty banters with his counterpart from the UK, Rishi Sunak on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Lithuania on Wednesday.

Albanese got the ball rolling when he brought out a piece of paper which read '2-1', the current scoreline of the Ashes which Australia are leading.

As they posed for photos, Sunak responded by bringing out a photo of Mark Wood and Chris Woakes celebrating after England won the third Test by three wickets at Headingley earlier this week.

The cheeky exchanges didn't stop there as Albanese shuffled through this paperwork and presented a photo of England batter Johnny Bairstow being run out.

"I was going to be really provocative," he said before presenting the picture of Bairstow's runout that became a serious talking point in the ongoing Ashes.

But Sunak had his wits about him and spontaneously replied," I'm sorry I didn't bring my sandpaper with me." This was a reference to the ball-tampering scandal centring Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft in 2018.

The two Prime Ministers promptly shook hands after posing for photos.

Sunak still had more in store as he took to Twitter, reminding his counterpart about England's victory and hoping to achieve the same results in the final two matches.

Taking to Twitter, Sunak wrote: "I promised Anthony Albanese I'd give him one of our ministerial folders.
"Naturally it came with a little reminder of last weekend … two more to go."