Monty Panesar reveals the Barmy Army have a NEW song about one Aussie great who branded 'drunk' English fans 'pork chops' for abusing Steve Smith

England great Monty Panesar has revealed that the Barmy Army are set to unveil a new song about Darren Lehmann at The Gabba during this week's second Ashes Test.

It comes after the former Aussie coach branded England fans who jeered Steve Smith over his role in the controversial sandpaper-gate scandal ‘pork chops’.

Ahead of the series, Panesar had lit the fuse on the Ashes powderkeg by urging England to target Smith and make the stand-in Australia captain ‘feel guilty’ about the controversial incident in 2018, which ultimately saw him receive a ban and lose the captaincy.

The New South Wales batsman subsequently hit back with an astonishing broadside at the England great, appearing to reference Panesar’s bizarre appearance on Mastermind the following year. Panesar delivered a series of very bizarre answers and recorded only one point during a general knowledge round. 

A day later, Smith led Australia out at the Perth Stadium in place of regular captain Pat Cummins but was taunted by some members of the Barmy Army inside the stadium. Some sang chants of: ‘We saw you cry on the telly,’ in reference to an interview the batsman gave in the wake of the scandal, where he welled up with tears while apologising to the Australian public.

‘The abuse you get is daily,’ Lehmann said last week. ‘It is unbelievable. In England, they just don't forget. It is like they have never done anything wrong in their life.

‘It is only the ones that drink too much and carry on like pork chops.' 

Lehmann, who was in charge of the team at the time, was cleared of any wrongdoing but later resigned from his role with the side.  

‘Steve Smith can hold his head high with how he handles everything,’ he added.‘The Barmy Army should be better than that. Most of them are and are very supportive of what goes on in the game.’

In the wake of the explosive war of words, Panesar was asked whether he had the sensitivity to know when banter had crossed the line.

‘Absolutely,’ he told the Best of ABC Sport Podcast. ‘If you look at it, you want it to be banter. It’s Ashes stuff and you don’t want to be going to abusive behaviour where you’re actually hurting someone and their feelings.

‘Let’s be honest, that incident [sandpaper-gate] hurt a lot of people emotionally from a family perspective and Cricket Australia lost a lot of sponsors and stuff like that. It was a very sensitive time.

‘Even the Barmy Army themselves, they’ve got a code of conduct where if they feel like anyone is [encroaching] on borderline abusive behaviour, they chuck them out.

‘I remember Darren [Lehmann] talking about it, and I think the Barmy Army have a song ready for him in Brisbane. I think they’re not going to let him go either.’

Panesar was pressed on whether he could reveal the lyrics to the song.

‘I’ve got to keep that secret, it’s them who are going to be going out there chanting it and singing it,’ he added.

‘But in all seriousness, everyone knows banter is banter. Part of the Ashes. We’ve had history. Years of banter and sledging that comes with it. There’s a line as well, where everyone feels that if it’s gone beyond that line, people will stop that. 

'They won’t go in that direction. We’re all human and we don’t want to hurt anyone. It’s about competitiveness on the field. We don’t want to be causing any issues off the field with anyone.'

However, he did hope that the former Australia coach took the song in good humour.

‘I hope he takes it as banter and doesn’t take it too personally. If he feels it’s a bit too much, I’m sure the Barmy Army will stop it. But there is a song coming out for him, I’m 100 per cent sure.’

Panesar had told betting website Boyle Sports in the build-up to Australia’s eight-wicket victory in Perth that England should: 'Really get into him [Smith] and make him feel guilty about it. Make him feel like, "they're probably right, I shouldn't be here, I shouldn't be doing this".’

He added: 'If it were the opposite, the Australian media would be all over it. They would have said, if it was any of the English players, "the cheaters have arrived". Right?'

And the former England spinner, who took 167 wickets across 50 Tests, stated that perhaps the Barmy Army had gotten under Smith’s skin.

‘It’s all a bit of fun. Bit of banter isn’t it?’ Panesar told ABC Sport. ‘You look at, for example, when Steve Smith came out to bat. It was an uncharacteristic Smithy innings. Normally, he manages 10 per cent playing and missing in Australia. Here it was 49 per cent in the first innings in Perth. He nearly got his mate Marnus Labuschagne run out and had a few blows on the elbow.'

Smith would go on to score 17 runs from 49 deliveries in Australia's first innings.  

‘We know how he can bat, but for that reason, maybe the Barmy Army feel like they’ve got underneath his skin or Ben Stokes.

‘The England team may feel like: “If we can keep Steve Smith quiet throughout the series then maybe we’ve got a chance of winning the Ashes”.’

Panesar also pointed a dig back at Smith following his Mastermind sledge in which he mocked the spinner who had appeared to claim that Athens was a city in Germany.

‘These things happen, you know, the night before the Test match, he’s memorising the questions and the answers of Mastermind,’ Panesar, who stepped back onto the cricket pitch this weekend to take a five-for during Campbelltown Camden fourth team’s victory against Hawkesbury, said.

‘And it kind of makes me feel great. Which means I can sit on my couch and rattle the Aussies, which is great fun.’