David Warner shows empty pockets in response to crowd’s sledge

Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft have got back into international cricket after their serving respective bans. They put behind the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal and returned to competitive cricket really well. While Bancroft was drafted into the Test squad and was his first international game since the ban was lifted, Smith and Warner played the World Cup where Australia were eliminated in the semi-final.

However, both Smith and Warner haven’t had an easy time in England. They were taunted quite a few times during the World Cup from the crowd. It’s got worse in the Ashes as Bancroft has joined the team. The crowd at Edgbaston have been pretty open and have brought out sandpapers mocking the trio. In fact, the Edgbaston crowd is supposedly one of the most difficult crowds to play in front of as an opposition.

There were boos all around the ground on multiple occasions during the World Cup for Smith and Warner. Those boos have got louder in this Ashes. In the first innings, when all three of them walked out to bat, they were welcomed with a round of boos. They were led off the field with the same treatment as well.

Steve Smith makes a tremendous comeback

While Warner and Bancroft failed on return as they scored 2 and 8 respectively, Smith had a wonderful comeback. He fought hard and bailed Australia out of trouble. His magnificent knock of 144 helped Australia go from 122/8 to 284.

It was a typical Smith knock and it never seemed like he was away from Test cricket for over 16 months. However, when Smith got to his ton, he was greeted with another round of boos. When Australia were bowling, the crowd tried to taunt the trio again. When David Warner was fielding at the boundary, the fans in those stands tried to sledge the Aussie opener.

There were claims that Warner carried sandpaper. However, Warner was cheeky in his gesture. He opened his pockets and showed that there was nothing. Moreover, he was all smiles and took it in a really good way. Thus, Warner and Smith have take responded to the sledge and the banter from the crowd really well.