Bairstow said crowd cannot be asked not to heckle Smith and Warner
England wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstow believes that fans cannot be disciplined not to react to Australia batsmen David Warner and Steve Smith. This comes after Warner and Smith's sandpaper gate scandal in 2018 where both batsmen were suspended.
“I’ve read that (Australia coach) Justin Langer and (India captain) Virat Kohli have asked supporters not to boo Steve Smith and Warner. I’m not sure that makes any difference,” said Bairstow in his column for The Telegraph.
“The fans will react however they want, particularly in the Ashes (series). It is a bit pointless pleading with them not to boo Smith or Warner.”
Bairstow also mentioned in his column about the time that former Australian coach Darren Lehmann had been vocal about the Australian crowd heckling English cricketer Stuart Broad in 2013. Lehmann had asked the crowd to harass Broad until he cried and left.
“There is a fine line as well. There was a time not that long ago when then Australia coach, Darren Lehmann, was telling the Australia crowd to send Stuart Broad home crying,” said Bairstow. “I’m sure it was not meant maliciously but for Australians then to say ‘do not boo these guys’ is interesting. It has to work both ways, it can’t just all be one way.”
“I’m not saying it is right or wrong. But to have the mentality (that) ‘we can do it to you, but you cannot do it to us’ is a bit strange,” added Bairstow.
England will play against Australia today at Lord’s Cricket Ground. The home team currently has +190 odds to win the entire ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
If you want to know the outright odds of the other teams in the World Cup, you can check out Betwala’s cricket odds page.
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