England’s cricketers have seemingly delivered one last brutal snub to their Australian opponents, snubbing the traditional post-series drinks.

Australia lost the fifth Ashes Test on Monday (British time), to tie the series 2-2, although they do retain the urn.

After the match was over, the Australians reportedly stayed at The Oval in London into the night, waiting for the chance to mingle with their opponents.

Australian players were spotted looking into the hosts’ dressing rooms after play, before eventually giving up and leaving the ground at close to 10.45pm. England’s team was then spotted leaving shortly after.

“Didn’t look like the Australian and English teams had their customary post-series drinks tonight at The Oval,” cricket writer Bharat Sundaresan wrote on social media.

“Did notice the Aussies hanging around for quite a while waiting and Steve Smith even peering into the English rooms a couple of times before giving up.”

Post-series drinks have long been a tradition of international cricket, with players usually gathering once meetings and family time is finished.

But they didn’t go ahead on Monday night after Australia’s 49-run loss to England.

Australian players reportedly asked numerous times to enter the English sheds, but the door was locked and the tourists not let in.

Australian players were said to be disappointed, after the two teams drank together late into the night after the fifth Test at the same venue in 2019. Although Fox Sports had a different take.

“We don’t really care, we’ve got the urn. But after a hard-fought series it is pretty pathetic,” a source close to the Australian camp told the network.

“Talk about the spirit of cricket.”

England sources have since said they expected to drink with Australia following their meetings and extended retirement presentations, but were surprised to learn the tourists had left. Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali both retired after the last Test.

Tweet from @beastieboy07

The hosts have put the drama down to a misunderstanding. But it came after England coach Brendon McCullum threatened to boycott the drinks earlier in the series, following the controversial Jonny Bairstow stumping at Lord’s.

In interviews after that Test, McCullum and captain Ben Stokes also accused Australia of breaching the spirit of cricket.

Australian players were continually heckled by English crowds following the incident, with the rowdy Lord’s long room incident only one example of the side regularly being labelled cheats.

Tensions had appeared to ease between the two teams in recent Tests, albeit with Bairstow continually making exaggerated efforts to stay in his crease while batting.

Tweet from @benstokes38

Stokes also indicated on Monday night that relations with Australian players had been friendly, with limited sledging in the series.

“That’s the progression of franchise cricket to be honest,” Stokes said.

“There are a lot of players who have relationships with the opposition now, not just England and Australia, but with other teams around the world.

“Especially with the IPL, you can spend nine weeks with someone who you are playing against.

“I spent two or three years at Rajasthan with Steve Smith. You get to know each other and stuff like that.”

Monday night’s absence of a friendly get-together follows a similar incident following the 2017 Border-Gavaskar, where Virat Kohli’s Indian team refused to drink with Australia after a fiery series.

-with AAP