Piers Morgan whacks 'cheating' Aussies in wild new Ashes rant

Controversial British shock jock Piers Morgan is refusing to accept England's Ashes failure after launching a stunning new attack on the Aussie cricket side. Morgan was among a long list of England supporters and players to decry the rain after it washed out the entire day five of the Old Trafford Test, meaning the Ashes would stay in Australia's hands regardless of the result in the fifth match.

The nature of Australia's triumph has not gone down well in England, with star batter Joe Root calling for greater flexibility to allow for later finishes in Test matches in the event of rain. Others have argued the rule should be changed so the current holders don't simply "retain" the Ashes in the event of a drawn series.

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Morgan has been perhaps the most outspoken critic of Australia's Ashes campaign though, and claims England have been comfortably the "better team" across the four Tests, despite trailing 2-1 in the series. The divisive British broadcaster has continued to brand Australia's players as cheats after the Jonny Bairstow controversy at Lord's, and took another shot at Pat Cummins' men ahead of the fifth and final Test, starting at The Oval on Thursday.

He argued that if the rain hadn't saved Australia in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, then England would be level in the series at 2-2, before claiming Ben Stokes' men would dominate the Aussies at The Oval. “This was building to one of the all-time great series — forget Ashes — of any cricket series, internationally, in history,” Morgan said.

“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.”

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Morgan has also engaged in a social media feud with Aussie cricket icon Merv Hughes throughout the Ashes series and was branded a hypocritical "flog" by the former Test bowler for saying the Aussies did not deserve to retain the Ashes after rain caused the fourth Test to end in a draw. "For f**k sake. Has there ever been a less-deserved retention of the Ashes?" Morgan wrote.

"From the Bairstow debacle to this rain-soaked fiasco, it’s an absolute farce that smirking Australia have ended up with the urn still in their hands. England comfortably the better side as this Test showed. Gutting."

Hughes was among those to call out the hypocrisy of the criticism from Morgan, who famously took to Twitter during the 2013 Ashes series to hail the rain after it saved England from certain defeat. Morgan's latest rant - and refusal to accept England's Ashes failure with grace and dignity - has added to considerable pile-on against him from around the cricket world.

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