Wolves coach Tony Smith batting for Australia in Ashes series (From This Is Cheshire)

Wolves coach Tony Smith batting for Australia in Ashes series

8:27am Wednesday 8th July 2009 in

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TONY Smith has declared his interest in the Ashes, which gets underway in Cardiff today.

Wolves and England's Australian rugby league coach will be rooting for his country of birth in this summer's showpiece cricket event.

The former Huddersfield and Leeds coach, now head of coaching and rugby at Warrington, took out British citizenship a year ago ahead of the 2008 World Cup and has no plans to return to Australia to live.

But he says there are no divided loyalties when it comes to cricket.

"It's easy," he said.

"When it comes to rugby league, my loyalties are firmly with England. When it comes to cricket, my loyalties have pretty much stayed with Australia.

"I've got a foot in either camp, I can't lose. I'll back the Aussies but it wouldn't be the end of the world if they lost it.

"If it's as close as it was last time, it would be nice. It was a fantastic series."