Steve Smith Debuts On Thread By Defending Alex Carey Over “Barberball” Allegations

Australia vice-captain Steve Smith has debuted on Thread by defending teammate Alex Carey over allegations of unpaid money to a barber in Leeds. Carey, who became an infamous personality in England for stumping counterpart Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s on Sunday, seems to be on the radar of supporters of the home team. As a result, he has now been dragged into an off-field controversy named “Barberball”.

Calling Ashes 2023 matches for BBC, former England captain Alastair Cook made a shocking revelation in the commentary box by revealing how Carey got a haircut in the city before the ongoing third Test without paying an outstanding amount of £30. As per Cook, Carey didn’t make the payment because he had run out of cash and the barber only accepted cash as a mode of payment.

Adam Mahmood, who works at Doc Barnet’s Barber Shop in Leeds, opened up to The Sun about the same. Cook said that the barber was not well-versed with cricket and he described the players by their looks only. According to Mahmood, Australian batters David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne had also visited him for a haircut.

“He says, ‘One of them, I think Alex is his name’. I said, ‘Alex Carey, wicketkeeper?’ Cook said on BBC Test Match Special.

“He says, ‘He hasn’t paid’. It was one of those cash-only barbers, and he promised him he would do a transfer later on in the day.”

Steve Smith Debuts On Thread By Defending Alex Carey Over “Barberball” Allegations

Smith, who has played 68 international matches across formats with Carey as a teammate, came to his rescue to clear what appears to be a baseless accusation on the 31-year old player for the second time in a row in the last one week.

Making most of his account on a newly-launched social media platform named Thread, Smith played a fact-checker to a report published by The Sun. Smith, who bashed the publication for circulating wrong information, played a new role to mark his presence on a new turf.

“I can confirm that @alexcarey_5 has not had a haircut since we were in London. Get your facts right @thesun,” read Smith’s thread.

It is noteworthy that CA (Cricket Australia) have confirmed that some other member of their squad paid a visit to Mahmood for a haircut from the aforementioned place.

Even though the payment was not made initially, it was later done via international transfer because the player’s mobile phone was unable to be used at the time. If ESPNcricinfo are to be believed, a transaction receipt of the same will be provided by Monday to avoid any further confusion.

Steve Smith’s First Thread Was Also A Re-post Of Alex Carey’s Post

Meanwhile, Smith’s first two posts on Thread have been related to the Australian wicket-keeper batter. Before uploading the above mentioned post, Smith had just re-posted Carey’s first Thread which announced his arrival on the application.

“We are on threads ..,” wrote Carey before tagging Smith in his first post.