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Aussie prank before the fourth Ashes 2009 Test?


Just hours before the start of the fourth Test at Leeds, there was a fire alarm that broke in the hotel where the England team prompting their spinner Graeme Swann to make a Twitter entry which read, “fire alarm? brilliant!!!”
The news is out. Ashes 2009 rivalry is been taken to a new level with Aussie fans claiming that they raised the false fire alarm which roused the England players from their beds at Radisson Hotel in Leeds at about 4.30am on Friday, the first day of the fourth Test.
‘The Fanatics’ — the Australian supporters who follow the Test team seems to have set off the fire alarm. The players from the England team were promptly asked to evacuate along with other guests in the hotel while the fire engines (a couple of them) were doing the rescue operation and trying to find out the source of the alarm.
Players were left standing on the street in their pyjamas for more than 20 minutes until the all-clear was given for them to return.
Warren Livingston, head of the Fanatics, while speaking to the  The Sunday Telegraph has mentioned one of the members in the contingent had set the alarm off to disrupt the English team’s sleep. “Yes it was one of our guys who did it as a bit of a prank, I got a text message after it happened,” he said.
“At first I thought ‘good onya’, we’re just doing our bit for Australia. But I can’t condone this sort of thing. I don’t want any trouble. We’ve all had a big laugh and it might have made a difference, the way they batted.”
The media reports in England maintain that the alarm may have been set off by another hotel guest even as Cricket Australia threatened to take action if the claims by Australian supporters were true.
A CA spokesman said “if it is shown to be the result of inappropriate behaviour by members of the public, we would not condone that at all”.
England wicket-keeper Matt Prior blamed the incident for his team’s shocking show. “I think I was sleepwalking. It wasn’t ideal. Anyone would be slightly miffed at 5 am standing in the rain with no shoes on. It’s not an excuse, but there were a few grumpy people around complaining they had been woken up at 5am.”
Australia pacer Stuart Clark said that England’s “crazy” pre-match morning played a role in Australia’s domination of the Test. “It would have been a distraction,” Clark said after destroying England’s middle order with 3-18 in his first Test in nine months.
“Obviously there was a lot of talk about Andrew, is he or isn’t he going to play? Obviously the fire alarm, then Matt Prior, and we actually hit one of their coaching staff with a ball in the head, so it actually all went in our favour,” the lanky pacer said.

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