It’s time for a marmite post. You’ll either love this or hate it. Here’s Adam Kiddle on why it’s still ok to boo Steve Smith. Although I personally think the booing has got a tad tedious now, Adam makes some really good points …
Firstly, let me set my stall out here. I wouldn’t boo Steve Smith. In fact, I didn’t. I was at Edgbaston Day 3 and—while enjoying the atmosphere as much as anyone else in the Hollies—I saved my voice for cheering wickets and sighing audibly at the ease with which the Aussies piled on the runs.
However, less than two years ago, English fans endured a dismal sleepless winter as we watched collapse after collapse in an excruciating 4-0 loss Down Under – a series in which Mitchell Starc made the ball talk to the tune of 93mph off-breaks, while James Anderson, the greatest swing bowler of his generation, needed a pink ball and floodlights for any sign of his not-so-secret weapon.
The fact of the matter is that although SandpaperGate ignited in South Africa, no one really knows when the Aussie ball tampering started. Many England fans therefore wonder whether Australia’s Ashes win down under had as much validity as one of Lance Armstrong’s yellow jackets.
Sure, we can talk about punishment served, but certain fans feel as though Messrs Smith, Warner and Bancroft took the global reputation of the game they love into their own hands and handled it with reckless abandon.
Hence, the booing.
It might not be how I would choose to express myself, but some people think continued booing is justified, and I understand their dismay.
What’s more, I find the increasing number of pundits, commentators, and now politicians criticising the booing extremely frustrating. They mistake booing aimed at Steve Smith the cheat for booing aimed at Steve Smith the world-class batsman (or Steve Smith the brave team-player).
Now that Smith has scored two fine centuries and taken a nasty hit to the head, consensus among the commentariat appears to be that the booing should stop. “How can you boo a guy who has played like that?” they say. “How can you a boo a guy so brave to come back after that hit?” they say. Their contention, one assumes, is that 400 runs plus a Jofra Archer thunderbolt to the head erases Cape Town from the memory banks.
However, I repeat. Steve Smith’s ability as a batsman was never in doubt. Nobody is booing Smudger the batsman. They’re booing Smith the cheat. They’re two completely different issues. England fans respect the batsman but they don’t yet respect the man. And who are we to moralise and tell them when to forgive and forget?
Where is the same clamour for the booing of David Warner to stop? Ditto for Bancroft? I seem to have missed that. Would it perhaps be anything to do with neither being able to buy a run? Surely not. And herein lies the contradiction.
As so often in the age of cancel culture, people choose to conflate two separate issues about the same subject and engage in recreational outrage in order to serve their own agenda. In this case, people who don’t want Steve Smith booed—for one reason or another—are telling you that you shouldn’t because he’s the leading run-scorer in the series, despite knowing full well that his ability has nothing to do with it.
He cheated. And that hasn’t changed.
I will be at The Oval, too. I won’t boo then, either. But it won’t be because the 800-odd runs Smith has inevitably amassed by that point have convinced me to stop. Just as I have the right to make that choice, so do those who will continue to boo. No amount of runs or blows to the head will change that fact.
Adam Kiddie
Here’s what the Australian PM tweeted about the booing.
I think the natural response to this is “sod off”. I don’t think anyone needs any lectures about right and wrong from a politician :-)
I read the comments under that yesterday. Most of them are Aussies slagging him off for a variety of accurate reasons, so no real need for anyone else to join in.
Seem to remember he was one of the first in line to berate Smith and co for betraying the game and their country. However, despite the inevitable hypocrisies of two bit polititions I find the whole thing amusing. They did what they did in the cold light of day, totally consistent with their win at all costs mentality at the time. If they had not been rumbled they wouldn’t have given a toss, so I say they deserve all they get. As has already been said on this blog most of it is pantomime anyway and has clearly not impacted on Smith, except perhaps to strengthen his resolve. I was at Edgbaston and the booing they received cannot be compared to the abuse opposition players get at your average Premiership game. Despite their obvious batting acumen I couldn’t support Smith’s or Warner’s rehabilitation and just refrained from applause for them all day. Personally I think the silent treatment would have been more effective than booing.
Just a point here. If they had been Baseball players they would have been banned for life with no appeal, so their 1 year slap on the wrist is about as light a punishment as they could have hoped for.
Perhaps you should also tell the UK sports minister to sod off for his comments
James: TMS asked Andrew Samson (a Sedffer) about the pronunciation of Labuscagne. “Labu-Shane” is an Aussie version. The SA version is something like Labu skag-ne.
I agree.
Integrity isn’t something you learn. It’s wha you do when nobody is watching. It’s something you either have or you don’t have. I really don’t get it when people say they’ve learned their lesson and now know what they did was wrong. They knew it was wrong all along but we’re prepared to take the risk of getting caught. Now that they’ve been caught once, they won’t take the risk of being caught a second time.
Bang on.
I completely agree. I can live with sweets and sun cream but sandpaper is a different thing altogether. As it is written we have no idea when this calculated decision to cheat commenced, but it could have gone on for some time. Particularly in the Ashes series down under.
I am not for booing myself, but there is a direct distinction between Smith, Warner and Bancroft as batsmen and their role in sandpaper gate. Smith has served time for his crime, but he is still a test team captain, holding responsibility, who was prepared to cheat outrageously and there no getting away from that.
I was never comfortable with Atherton and the sand in the pocket, but that was then and this is now. It is not something that should be allowed to perpetuate. It brings a blight on our game.
I’m bored with those who boo…Yes, really bored. I’d tell them they are hypocrites, and remind them of Mike Atherton and his pocket full of dirt, or JK Lever and his sun-cream, or those sweets English players have used for years (or what Monty Panesar has been saying about what might be called creative ways of gaining an edge in his time). Boo Smith, Warner & Bancroft the first time they play against us…OK. But now? just grow up.
Oh, and I’m not an Aussie, BTW, I’m English. Just in case any one wonders…
I agree with you. Kiddie is trying to defend the indefensible and not making much of a fist of it.
I went to the Pakistan test at Old Trafford a couple of years ago, and there were people who were chanting “no ball” after every Amir ball. It gets very tedious.
Booing should stop. It is no longer making the original point about sandpaper, and therefore tends to undermine the moral position. And it is really, seriously, tedious. But your point about the last Ashes down under is well made. That series looks to have sandpaper all over it, given the curious fact that Anderson couldn’t swing it except under lights, while Starc could get that late swing at will. Which, in turn, means that the Cricket Australia investigation covered up much more than it revealed.
I have no great issues with booing them as they come out to bat or field etc although I am bored with it given the general hypocrisy of it.
The issue I have is with the booing as Smith went off injured and when he came back on. That was just childish. Far be it for me to compare cricket fans to football ones but there is a comparison in this case and that is that, even in football, opposition fans always seem to be generous to members of the opposition who take medical treatment and have to leave the pitch as a result.
I’m sorry, call me old-fashioned but booing is boorish, ill- mannered and not befitting of any spectator to justify. My mother would have clipped me round the ear behaving like that, particularly in public.
We have systems in place to punish cheating (and also let’s not forget we have seen many examples of it from England, Pakistan and South Africa, of the ones documented) and this creeping idea that some forms of cheating are worse than others is complete rationalisation. Bullshit to be honest!
Marmite reply – terrifically expressed but a fallacious argument. Smith the person is Smith the cricketer, so boo if you want to have a bit of fun and don’t see any earthly reason why the possibility that he has sustained a grave injury should force a rethink. Besides, Giles Falconer’s point is bang-on.
An incredible deluge of twaddle has been written and said about ball-tampering in the past half-century, more, in fact, than about the intricate moral and ethical dilemma of a sport that prides itself on decent behaviour yet allows its practitioners to assault each other’s bodies with an extremely dangerous weapon. Mad.
As an Englishman living in Australia I’ve had plenty of mileage out of Sandpapergate in terms of winding up the locals but any sober analysis has to accept that no team is “clean” on this issue and taking any kind of moral high ground is a very tricky exercise. Minty saliva is every bit as illegal as sandpaper after all. Plus I think a nine month ban, losing the captaincy and vice-captaincy and a bucket load of opprobrium is sufficient punishment.
I do agree with the point that the cheating and the batting ability are 2 separate issues – which is actually exactly why the booing of Smith on Saturday was so disappointing. There is a time to boo Smith as a cheat (if you wish) – but there is also a time to appreciate high skill and incredible courage. As well as a time to exercise some basic humanity and be thankful that someone who could very easily have been killed was in a position to come back out and bat. If venting your spleen about cheating is more important to you than doing the latter, then there’s not really much I can add.
I’m not too bothered about sticky mints but other than that you are right. Ongoing booing is boring and something to be endured, but there are times when it is out of place and wrong, as with the Smith injury and it’s permutations.
If you watch a fair amount of tennis played in France (not just Roland Garros), you’ll understand quite clearly that’s there’s an element of pantomime to spectating sports. Of course it’s everywhere, but the French love it more than most. Crowds like it when there an opportunity to create a villain, or a bit of drama, or a sub-plot. Of course, it often doesn’t really exist in reality, but it makes watching more fun.
Nearly all the booing towards Smith isn’t malicious (a small number of people may harbour ill will towards him), although it may occasionally be ill-judged, but there are a lot of words coming from crowds in every sport which are arguably ill-judged. Group behaviour and booze brings that out in people.
There is something so tediously sanctimonious, pious, humourless and unaware about those people castigating the booers. In particular it’s extremely unwelcome (and I’d suggest counter-productive) when Australians try to recalibrate British spectators’ moral compasses.
Indeed. Mightily hypocritical, I might suggest.
“It’s all pantomime” – absolute nonsense when you see the reactions to him being knocked out. Very cowardly to pretend it’s all good natured banter. “Its just a small minority who are malicious” citation: just trust me, okay?
It seems to me that a substantial number of cricket watchers don’t really know what’s actually gone on as regards the three sandpaperers.
These are the things that people seem to realise.
1. The three players were involved in cheating. Warner instigated it, Bancroft was too green to refuse and Smith didn’t veto it.
2. Once caught, Smith lied about it before admitting it about a week later.
3. Lehmann denied knowledge of it, said he wouldn’t resign, then resigned.
The following things, people don’t seem to realise.
1. The lengthy bans came from CA, not the ICC.
2. The lengthy bans happened to follow Warner’s (at least, others were involved) decision to contribute heavily to a strike fund aimed at preventing CA from reducing funding in the lower leagues.
3. Despite CA’s insistence that ‘top to bottom’ changes must be made, nothing has changed. Longer was next in line for the coaching position and Lehmann now runs the Australian youth side(!).
Consequently, Aussies who complain at the excessive bans in the light of other players’ cheating attempts ought to direct their annoyance right back to their own backyard.
The architects of the booing are CA who hung out Smith, Warner and Bancroft to dry. CA instigated the ‘win at all costs’ mentality and, when players that they select who have no problem ignoring rules and authority and are likely to ‘win at all costs’ (Warner, primarily) get caught, having ignored CA’s rules and authority in terms of strike action, suddenly don’t like having done unto themselves that which they happily did unto others, they feed them to the wolves with enormous bans.
Aussie fans who cite Atherton’s pocketful of dirt, Akram’s bottle tops and the rest of the examples of ball tampering are dead right. However, whose fault is it that Smith et al’s cheating was made into such a big deal? CA. And absolutely nothing has changed in terms of their stance regarding winning.
The English fans have been given the opportunity to boo these three players, on a plate by CA. Possibly even encouraged to do so by them.
The sand papering was cheating and it was bad – but no worse than many other sides over the years. Warner is a thug, but not a one dimensional thug – he showed solidarity to players in the lower leagues against CA and it’s that for which he’s being punished. CA were and are happy to pick a thug providing he’s their thug. When the thug decides to bite the hand that feeds him, the hand slapped him much harder than the ICC or any other cricket organisation had done to any ball tamperers previously.
It’s CA who are the villains of this piece and they’re more than happy for the English to help them mete out further punishment n order for them to look good.
CA stinks.
Excellent post. I agree with much of what you say – but I do have a couple of counterpoints.
Firstly, I’m not convinced that CA had much choice other than to sign off on lengthy bans. I was initially astonished at how visceral the reaction was to the whole Sandpapergate affair. But then I remembered how the Australian cricket team is seen to represent the nation to a much greater extent than the English cricket team does in England. It’s not for nothing that the Australian PM is known as the second most important job in Australia. The cricket team is analogous to the England football team in terms of its importance to the national psyche.
The national outrage may have been hypocritical given previous behaviour, but it was real nonetheless – as was the threat of sponsors walking. So in that context, I’m not sure CA could have just sat back and accepted the ICC’s one match ban and then acted as if nothing had happened. Ignoring an enraged fan base is never a wise move, as the ECB may be about to find out.
Secondly, I think it’s unfair to say that nothing has changed. There’s clearly a difference in how this side conducts itself on the field and represents itself off the field. Whether the change lasts or not is up for debate, but change has definitely taken place, at least at the very highest level.
I am yet to be convinced on that last point. Very early days with an interim captain who is unlikely to be in place for much longer. Old habits die hard, and I struggle to see the new nicey-nicey Aussie approach lasting beyond Time Paine’s premiership.
Yep.
I would only add to this very cogent post that nobody has ever been able to explain (a) why the player sanctions were limited to the three batsmen (b) did not extend to include any of the bowlers whose abilities with late swing have never been quite the same after as before. It seems quite obvious that CA decided to make some examples and limit the radius of the ripples. One might speculate that Warner, Smith and Bancroft took one for the team, and perhaps were incentivised to do so. Warner’s role in the player remuneration dispute does qualify him for special treatment, but that does not feel like the main theme.
One further point. Maybe my memory’s failing me, but I’m really struggling to remember the same volume of discussion about the perpetual screaming of ‘no ball’ when Amir bowled in the UK in the 2016 from certain spectators (particularly at Old Trafford), which given the circumstances of his offense (an 18 year old under his captains orders) and punishment (i.e. real jail time) seemed far far worse.
Indeed Alastair Cook described it as the “consequence” of his actions in 2010. Shaharyar Khan, who was head of the PCB, told Amir to expect it.
As someone who couldn’t play at the highest level, and who had to face up to test players in club cricket at a massive disadvantage and never even considered cheating to even the odds, I struggle to find a lot sympathy for elite players who cheat for an extra advantage over weaker players.
If Smith hadn’t been caught, would he have cheated for the rest of his career, and angrily denied it if accused?
I wouldn’t boo him, and I’m not a big fan of booing players. But I’ve just got no heart to defend him from it either, because fundamentally I loved the game more than winning, and that kind of puts me at odds with guys who love winning more than they love the game.
Well said. I’m with you on this.
This is easily the worst article I’ve read on this blog. The booing is incredibly tedious and downright vicious when the bloke is being helped up off the floor after nearly being knocked out. You also wouldn’t give too much of a damn if he wasn’t Australian. A one year suspension is far beyond any other suspension for this in the game’s history, good god can we just move the hell on?
So they’re not booing the batsman, they’re booing the cheat? The same people who worship a drunken out of control lunatic for putting two people in hospital in the middle of a series after throwing money in peoples faces demanding to be let into nightclubs – but say it’s fine because the prosecution overreached
“Messrs Smith, Warner and Bancroft took the global reputation of the game they love into their own hands and handled it with reckless abandon.”
and what on earth do you think booing someone passed out on the floor does for the image of the game? The lack of self awareness with these bores astounds me. Do you realise the majority of the cricket world are fully behind Steve Smith and Australia on this tour becaues of how inanely unlikable this England side and their drunken yob following are?
You can’t give ‘up’ votes here, Gav, but your post(s) deserve one !
At least it’s top of one list! I think you might have missed the point though. To turn the tables, if Aus fans were to boo Ben Stokes because of his behaviour off the field, I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that but I would respect their right to do so. Most importantly, if he had scored a double hundred and the UK PM had tweeted that the booing should stop because of his performance, I would completely disagree with that.
To be honest, you missed my point why I even mentioned Ben Stokes – the people shrieking about the integrity of the game saying Smith should be banned for life (???) are the ones saying Ben Stokes should be knighted. Comical
And guess what’s gonna happen now when Ben Stokes goes down under and thinks about venturing outside in between test matches? They are going to poke and prod him until he inevitably loses it (as that meltdown was far from out of character), he won’t be given any breathing space. So great job everyone, from the scenes of Andrew Flintoff offering commiserations to Brett Lee before celebrating with his team in the most important moments in an entire generation of english cricket, to this garbage
**** Unfortunately I missed the Lord’s test and had no idea that Smith had been booed after the injury. If this is the case then it’s beyond the pale and it wouldn’t condone it in any way. It’s quite disgusting actually.
However, I don’t think Adam’s article is referring to the booing after the injury. I think he’s referring to the booing in general. Let’s not forget that the Aussies booed Stuart Broad (for failing to walk) throughout the whole of the 2013 Ashes. I know that two wrongs don’t make a right, but is it so bad to boo Smith in this light? What Smith did was far worse.
I thought the booing of Stuart Broad was ridiculous back in 2013, as much as this booing is. I don’t judge myself on the actions of others, that is not integrity. “Well the aussies did it so it’s fair game”. Rubbish
And the booing of his injury and walking back out to bat is exactly the reason I’m so utterly fed up with this topic and the continued justification of booing him. It has completely dominated the series. The first test at 122-8 when he ends up with 144 was one of the greatest test match innings anyone will ever see and yet the reaction was all “he shouldn’t be there, he’s a cheat, a disgrace, it’s disgusting” and it has carried on every single day it seems to be discussed
And as for the booing on the injury, this is why I’m probably coming across over the top angry – He was booed when on the floor, when being helped out from the middle back to the pavilion, and when he walked back moments later despite being in serious pain knowing he was about to go toe to toe with a guy firing it down at him at 96mph despite only having one fully functioning arm. Absolutely disgraceful
I agree with most of that. The booing does get tedious. I remember tweeting out during Edgbaston that the “same old Aussies, always cheating” ad nauseam was ridiculous and annoying.
However, I do think you’re missing one thing in this. The crowds don’t consist of the same people every day at every ground. It’s mostly fresh people each time. I think some of them are just voicing their displeasure in person for the first time i.e. they want to have their say and they’re going to take their first opportunity to do it. I don’t really blame them for this. Although some people are just being drunk and boorish, I believe some are genuinely protesting against what they perceived as gross cheating. I’m not surprised by the reaction – although I agree that booing Smith when he was injured was absolutely abhorrent.
For what it’s worth I personally didn’t boo Smith when I had the opportunity at Lord’s during the World Cup. However, I did boo Warner. I would have booed him regardless of how many runs he scored. I booed him because (unlike Smith actually) I think he’s a bad egg. I can’t say whether I’d still boo him now though because it does get a little wearing and unseemly after a while.
The reason I liked Adam’s article – irrespective of how controversial I thought it might be – is because I think he makes a valid point re: separating the runs from the cheating. Why should the runs Smith has scored make any difference? Should we punish a wrongdoer less just because he happens to be very good at this job?
Because when is enough enough? What good is going to come from continuously day after day disregarding the sport and going back to the same old ground of sandpaper gate which is what, 18 months now? The down under tour is when the australians in the stands and on the streets are going to hit back twice as hard and they’ve got plenty of material to work with, so all we’re achieving is moving further and further away from the spirit that made 2005 so memorable. Booing him when he walks out, go for it, I can accept that’s a little panto. But all the other times, and for so many to continuously downplay his achievements because they argue he should never be allowed to play again? It’s just incredibly sour grapes that he has England on toast – Had enough of it
And this is highest level sport – people are being incredibly naive if they don’t think every other side out there is trying to come up with ways to alter the condition of the ball, the only difference was this was just more blatant. The professional condemnation in comparison to the ignorant boozer in the stand speaks volumes. Professionals bend the rules as much as they can get away with.
That’s fair enough. I do have some sympathy for what you’re saying.
The boorish behaviour of the English crowds has completely rehabilitated Steve smith in all eyes except the England who can’t seem to see the blatant hypocrisy. When did they boo Atherton, or Faf ( caught twice ball tampering). We know the current England set up was into it too as Monty Panesar admitted both using sweets and using his zipper. Since the cape town incident reverse swing which most sides were getting regularly has basically vanished. None in the World Cup and none In the Ashes. Everyone was doing even if not so blatantly. As Flintoff said to those condemning Smith and Warner including his team mates people in glass houses. He knows it was on the back of reverse swing that England won in 2005 and it wasn’t because of rough outfields.
Of course Australians booed Broad and Lehman encouraged it however he was sanctioned for it and apologised almost immediately. The England team has repeatedly given it support by refusing to condemn. In that context you can’t blame a boorish minority it’s Cleary supported and I’m disappointed to see it being encouraged here also.
No one encouraged it.
You’ve just written an article about how it’s ok and justifying it.
All teams getting reverse swing regularly rather than errratically – which prior to Cape Town was basically every team had “a method”. Yes sandpaper was worse by a degree although similar to sand in the pocket or using a zipper but all of them were cheating as we know no one gets the ball reversing regularly since then as they are worried about the much harsher penalties.
Did Australia do it before Cape Town? Probably. Any cricket fan rather than a blind team supporter can’t honestly say their team wasn’t using some method as well. You can argue mints aren’t as bad, maybe that’s true by a degree, but both are cheating. They already received a punishment that was 100 times what any other player has received for a similar offence. Even repeats of that offence (ie Faf). Pretending that it’s a totally unprecedented event though is ridiculous. Did Australia use an illegal method to get more reverse in Australia last tour. Almost certainly. Did England get reverse that Australia couldn’t by cheating and apply sweets in 05. Trescothick admitted as much. So don’t Get all sanctimonious now and claim that was good cheating while Australia engaged in bad cheating.
So the fact that they fact that the crowd boos them when they came out is one thing. I was in an Australia crowd that booed Warne and Mark Waugh after they were caught giving pitch info to bookies. Let them know what you think, fine no one expects kid gloves but booing players coming off injured or scoring centuries. Is
It is up to the paying public if they want to boo Smith et al. But I draw the line at booing Smith when he was injured especially with the memory of the demise of Philip Hughes still fresh in our minds. I found the booing unedifying and should have been beneath English supporters.
Agreed. Booing Smith after the injury was appalling. But I don’t think the author is referring to this incident. He’s referring to booing Smith in general.
However you posted an article about why it’s ok to boo smith immediately after that incident and linked the article to and attacked morrison’s Tweet which was about that incident – booing an Injured player.
These just seems like back pedalling.
My personal view is that you can boo Smith all you want within normal circumstances. I personally wouldn’t as I feel it goes against the spirit of cricket, but that’s not me. However, you should never boo an injured player. The fact it’s commonplace in football is one of the reasons I dislike the atmosphere of the sport so much and I wouldn’t want that to translate over to cricket.
On another note, some of the comments here are hilarious in how sanctimonious they are. People need to remember this is still a sport at the end of the day, no matter how much we all love it. Disagree with others all you want but at least have some of the respect you want to see epsoused towards others
Well said.
Look over here! Sandpapergate! Booing! Concussion!
Just do not remember that one of the batsmen in the Al-Jazeera programme about fixing in cricket < Moderated >. Forget about that – the informant was a criminal. Everybody in prison because of an informant with a criminal record is obviously innocent and would be freed immediately if the ICC/ECB/CA were in charge. That’s their logic. No need to investigate if the informant’s info checked out with corroborating evidence (which it seemed to in the Al-Jazeera case).
Hi Simon. I’ve edited your comment because we can’t link specific individuals to crimes without evidence. Sorry about that. I’ve had calls from lawyers before and I need to be careful.
I attended an ordinary secondary modern school in central London during and after the war, the school was near to Lords so several visits were enjoyed BUT dare we attempt to boo any player during our visit, it was cane time next morning as well as being reminded that it was not a sporting gesture so SHUT UP if you disproved of of anyone or anything. Never forgotten those firm words.
To anyone who wants to boo, fine it’s your choice to be a moron. Just don’t sit next to me at a cricket game or anywhere else.
The booing is simply what Adam himself calls “…recreational outrage.” Smith, Warner & Bancroft have been punished for their part in what happened. This doesn’t mean we should forget Sandpapergate, or what it says about the Australian Way, for one moment. Nor should we be any more accepting of the Cricket Australia whitewash according to which there was no cheating before Cape Town and none of the bowlers or coaching staff had any idea what was going on. At this point though, continuing to target the three batsmen who were suspended is just boorish self-righteousness of the worst kind. I won’t even be looking at any replies so if anyone feels like getting boorishly self-righteous with me they can Foxtrot Oscar.
I was booing because he wasn’t good enough to get out of the way of Archer’s bouncer – crap batting if you ask me! Why I should suddenly forget he is a cheat. Typical winging from the Aussies! GIve em hell!
So he’s still a cheat and you were booing because he wasn’t good enough to get out the way and it was ‘crap batting’ .Regardless of any possible consequences presumably. What does that say about you? I’d rather be a cheat than be you. Before you make any assumptions by the way, no I’m not an Aussie.
People who want to boo can do so, it’s a free country. That said, I think those people are morons and should shut the hell up. Smith did something wrong, he was banned for 1 year and as far as I am concerned, that is the end of the story. Do these people boo Atherton and other match fixers? Booing him when he takes a hard knock from a ball is uncalled for. Classless gits.
I don’t mind the booing, although it is a bit dull. I did not like the booing when he got hit by the ball under his ear as he could have been seriously hurt. If he was in hospital in a coma would they be pleased?
At least the crowd only boo and do not throw things at the players – that’s when you have to worry!
There ain’t half a lot of people on here who have never done anything wrong in their lives aren’t there? Yes well. Anyone who boos should be ejected from any sports ground and hosed down with cold water. It’s ignorant, moronic and has no place or justification anywhere in my book. I really get bored with piss heads and these hollier than thou people. Unfortunately it’s a symptom of society but it doesn’t make it right. And it’s blighting this series, 50 posts on here on booing rather than discussing Jason Roy’s batting! I
Yeah but we can all agree that’s been shocking! :P
Absolutely. Looks like he’s still in the team sheet at no. 2 as well. Oh dear…
Video of Joffra mocking Smiths batting has just lowered my opinion of him and lowered the spirit of these Ashes even further
The bit I saw ends with Archer getting bowled by a 12 year old so that part is causing lots of amusement in Australia.
On a perfect batting day England once again demonstrate that the Jason Roy method is the one preferred for the whole team.
What a pile of pants.
If you must boo, boo this terrible England “team”.
You beat me. Pretty clear which team deserves to be booed.
It’s just disgraceful. The best bat on either side in this game, Labuschange, has spent the summer playing county Cricket and scoring 1000+ runs and Michael (I change my mind every 5 minutes) Vaughan is worried that there are no England coaches for the 100! Jesus Christ.
Say no more.