Steve Smith and David Warner booed and called ‘cheats’ during England vs Australia Warm-up match

Steve Smith and David Warner face humiliation during the England vs Australia Warm-up match in Southampton; booed and called ‘cheats’

Australian Cricketers Steve Smith and David Warner face humiliation during the England vs Australia Warm-up match which is currently being played at The Rose Bowl, in Southampton.

After opting to bat first, Steve Smith, coming in at no.3 was subject to constant booing, accompanied with chants of “cheater” one after the other.

ALSO READ: Twitter reacts to Steve Smith century vs England

This was on expected lines as the two batting superstars, have returned back after a 1-year ban for being involved in the infamous ‘sandpaper gate’ controversy, last year in the month of January.

The crowd in Southampton, is a relatively small one today, but were vocal enough to not let the Aussie superstars go away without a treatment of scorn or disdain from their side.

How did Steve Smith respond?

Steve Smith responded the way he would have liked and perhaps done the best. Brushing away all the negativity around, the former Aussie captain scored a phenomenal 116 off 102 deliveries, with the assistance of 8 fours and 3 sixes, at a strike rate of 113.73.

He did the bulk of scoring as Australia posted a total of 297/9, with no other batter even scoring a half century. The next best batsman was the other batsmen at the receiving end of the verbal crowd- David Warner, who scored 43 of 55 deliveries and gave a good start to the Aussies.

Warner, on the other hand, was a bit luckier than Smith as he received a lukewarm sort of an applause from the crowd as he entered the field alongside Aaron Finch at the top.

Later, another chorus of boos greeted Smith, as he reached his century and acknowledged his dressing room, during the 48th over of the innings. Commentator Mark Nicholas consummately described the entire turn of events saying, “you can boo me all you like”.

When asked about the incident during the post-match presentation, Smith said,” I am pretty chilled, everyone are entitled to their opinion. I am happy to be back playing for Australia and fortunate that I contributed to the team Would like to keep the form going”.

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Mixed reception for Steve Smith’s century, feat. sandpaper 😆 #CWC19 #ENGvAUS pic.twitter.com/y8EevFp91a

— Tom VVardle (@tomvvardle) May 25, 2019