UK View: Piers Morgan, Ben Stokes take swipes at Matildas in Ashes 'revenge', England praised for 'dark arts' mastery

The UK’s villain in chief Piers Morgan has once again proved he’s yet to recover from Australia’s men’s cricket team’s successful Ashes retention, claiming England’s World Cup semi-final win over the Matildas is the perfect revenge.

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Morgan, who raised the ire of Australians nationwide with his repeat claims the team’s run out of Jonny Bairstow during a spiteful second Ashes Test went against the spirit of the game, took to Twitter after the women’s team’s 3-1 win over the Matildas to gloat.

“England’s fabulous @lions07esses crush Australia’s wilting Matildas 3-1 in their own back yard to reach the Women’s World Cup Final…. …. sweet revenge for the Jonny Bairstow Ashes runout debacle. Congrats ladies- you’ve made your country proud!” Morgan wrote, before going on to respond to David Warner’s cheeky suggestion to the Matildas that they should ensure England weren’t permitted to change the ball mid-match, following a controversy in the fifth Ashes Test.

Morgan wasn’t the only Englishman keen to bask in the reflected glory, with Ben Stokes taking to Twitter with a single word immediately following Ella Toone’s superb strike to set up a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute.

Morgan’s delight comes with the English team praised for their mastery of football’s ‘dark arts’ during a spicy match, with their repeat crude fouls on Sam Kerr especially drawing ire from Australian fans.

However, the outlook was far different among the UK press, with The Telegraph correspondent Luke Edwards saying the team ‘showed a nasty streak’ that proved crucial to the result.

“England took them apart, outplayed and outclassed them, and they did it all a very long way from home,” Edwards wrote.

“They showed a nasty streak that perhaps even they did not know they had until Australia brought – or should that be provoked – it out of them.

“The Lionesses were poked, kicked, elbowed and even spied on by their hosts; a national newspaper goaded them, welcoming them “to the jungle”, warning them that nothing was off limits. It was designed to intimidate. It did not work and neither did much of what Australia tried on the pitch either.”

Edwards had nothing but praise for a series of fierce and illegal challenges from the Englishwomen, despite suggestions from Australia referee Tori Penso should have dished out more yellow cards than just two – with one coming for time-wasting at the very end of the match.

“From the moment Keira Walsh, who is not renowned for her spiteful intent or even her physical strength, looked up and saw Australia’s star player Sam Kerr coming towards her in the opening minutes. The look was obvious, she knew who was coming to compete for the ball,” Edwards wrote.

Sam Kerr is fouled by Alex Greenwood, resulting in a yellow card. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images )

“Walsh’s eyes widened a little and then she made sure Kerr felt her studs and sent her to the turf. There was even a rugby style pat on the head. A faux act of apology, designed to send a message. There is more where that came from. And there was too.

“[Lucy] Bronze shoved Steph Catley to the ground and almost into the advertising hoardings, and she appeared to be suppressing a laugh as she ran away. Jess Carter wrapped a leg around and a knee into the side of Kerr and made her Chelsea team-mate wince in pain.

“Alex Greenwood was shown a yellow card for chopping Kerr down in about as cynical a fashion as you are likely to see. Kerr has had a calf injury and England made sure to test whether it was healed or not.

“They are not a nice team, not to face anyway. They are not going to be bullied or intimidated, not even by a nation that has, traditionally, been so good at doing it in a huge variety of sporting arenas in the past – especially at home.”

The Times’ Molly Hudson also praised the England team’s ‘sweetest of victories’, though she described the Matildas as a ‘valiant host’ – and claimed a 2-0 loss on home soil to Australia in May, their only loss in 38 outings under manager Sarina Wiegman, was used to fuel the clinical performance.

“England have played 38 matches under Wiegman, losing only once, to Australia, in April. They played as though they had taken that blot on their record personally,” Hudson wrote.

“England were promised a hostile atmosphere, and the higher the decibels that emanated from Stadium Australia, seemingly the better they played.”

That praise has been echoed around the nation as footballing icons from Gary Lineker to Gary Neville lauded the achievement, with the team becoming the first from England to reach a World Cup final since the men’s team’s triumph in 1966.

Former England midfielder Izzy Christiansen directed much of her delight at Wiegman’s performance as manager, saying she is ‘running out of superlatives’.

“To come in and change the culture, instill a winning mentality, to create a brand of football that is pragmatic, interesting, lets the talent flourish,” Christiansen said.

“We saw in the starting XI tonight that she had all of her best players on the pitch, some managers struggle to find ways to get the best out of their best players.

“You’ve just seen another masterclass again from Sarina this evening.”