After being booed in warm-up game against England, Steve Smith says it’s water off duck’s back

The rivals met each other in their maiden warm-up game ahead of the World Cup in Southampton on Saturday. Australia prevailed over England on this occasion as they pulled off a 12-run win after the Three Lions’ stand-in skipper Jos Buttler won the toss and sent them to bat. Former captain Steve Smith rose to the occasion to slam 116 off 102 balls to propel Aaron Finch’s side to 297 for 9 and then bowled the hosts out for 285.

Smith did not have a happy reception at the Rose Bowl where the match was played as there were chants of “cheat, cheat” in the stands when he came out to bat in the 17th over after the fall of opener David Warner. The connection was with the Sandpapergate scandal of 2018 when Smith and Warner were handed a one-year ban for tampering the ball in a Test match in South Africa. The incident put Australian cricket in great chaos and the duo made their comeback to the side straight for the World Cup after missing international cricket for a year.

While Smith belted eight fours and three sixes during his match-winning knock, Warner was the second highest scorer for his team with 43 off 55 balls. The two batsmen had been playing T20 cricket all this time and were in good nick as well.

Was able to score runs for the team

Smith though was not bothered much about the booing on Saturday. “I heard a few things as I went out to bat. But it doesn’t get to me. I was just trying to keep my head down and move straight ahead and just do my job and fortunately today, I was able to score a few runs for the team,” the ace batsman said after the match.

“It doesn’t bother me. I focus on my job. Support of teammates up in the balcony. I know I’ve got the support of my teammates. If I can make them proud and Australians proud then that’s my goal.”

“More importantly, I was able to spend some time in the middle before the World Cup,” the former skipper added.

Smith though did not find anything wrong with the whole of the UK after he reached there with the squad for the World Cup. He said “it’s water off a duck’s back” about the booing.

Australia are expected to have a challenging time in England during the Ashes starting in August. They beat the West Indies in another unofficial practice game before this match and will play Sri Lanka in their final warm-up game at the same ground on Monday.

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