Australia captain Steve Smith came up with a brutal response to Monty Panesar's sandpaper-gate comments ahead of Ashes 2025-26. The first Test begins in Perth on Friday, November 21.During the press conference on Thursday, the 36-year-old asked the reporters, "Who all have seen Mastermind and Monty Panesar on that?", sparking laughter in the room. The reference was from a UK quiz show on which Panesar appeared in 2019. It has gone viral ever since due to the former England spinner's answers to general knowledge questions.Calling it 'comical', Smith said those who haven't watched Panesar's episode should do themselves a favour."I’m gonna go off topic for a second here. Who have you in the room have 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 that believes that Athens is in Germany, that’s a start, 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."It came after Panesar urged England to make Smith feel guilty about the sandpaper controversy that occurred during Australia's Test tour of South Africa in 2018. Smith, along with David Warner, was banned from competitive cricket for a year for their role in the ball-tampering saga. Opener Cameron Bancroft, who tampered with the ball, copped a nine-month ban.The Aussie batting star will stand in as captain for Pat Cummins, who will not play the series-opener due to a back injury."It’s a really tough one on him" - Steve Smith on Beau Webster missing out on playing XIBeau Webster. (Image Credits: Getty)When asked how difficult it was to leave seam-bowling all-rounder Beau Webster out of the playing XI, Steve Smith claimed the call had to be taken to accommodate Cameron Green, who has also returned to bowling. He elaborated, as quoted by Perth Now:"Very tricky. He (Webster) has come into international cricket and lit it up immediately. I think it’s a really tough one on him. But I think Marnus batting at his best at No. 3 makes us a very, very good cricket side. We’re pretty versatile with our order and the way we can go about it. And Greenie obviously played exceptionally well at three in some tough conditions in the West Indies, but with him bowling as well and taking that load, we feel that six is a good position for him right now. It doesn’t mean in the future he’s not going to slide up the order, but for right now, No. 6 suits this team."Australia have named two debutants in opener Jake Weatherald and pacer Brendan Doggett for the opening Test in Perth.