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The worry for Smith on his international return

3rd April, 2019
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3rd April, 2019
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On a train to Nottingham for Day 2 of the fourth Test in the 2015 Ashes, I knew Michael Clarke’s Australian team was bracing for a day of ceaseless taunting.

The day before, they’d been famously rolled for 60 as Stuart Broad single-handedly wrestled the urn back into English hands. Australia, down 2-1 going into the Trent Bridge test, had effectively lost the series in a session, and the home fans were giddy in the party atmosphere.

And rightly so. This was payback time, for the many who had lived through loss after loss in the 90s.

Not content to laud it over the Aussie side, the packed house had one target in mind: Mitchell Johnson. Sitting at fine leg at the Radcliffe Road End, I saw Johnson receive a relentless array of abuse from the well-lubricated crowd.

At one stage, after the umpteenth sledge, he turned and looked utterly crestfallen, no resolve left, wanting to get out of there. And fast. He went for almost five-an-over that innings, recording 1-102 off 21 overs, all to a ceaseless tune sang ad nauseam: “He bowls to the left, he bowls to the right, that Mitchell Johnson, his bowling is…”, well, you know the rest.

Australian bowler Mitchell Johnson prepares to bowl on day 3 of the second Test match between Australia and India at the Gabba in Brisbane, Friday, Dec. 19, 2014. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

Mitchell Johnson. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

Far be it for Australians to criticise the English for crowd abuse. Our own stadiums are similarly over-represented by over-entitled idiots, too, who save their most inexcusable torment for an Ashes series. But the abuse in the UK is different.

For one, Australia’s stadia is much bigger than the close-in, tight English grounds. But more importantly, the UK crowd taunts are particularly targeted. “They pick Australian players to target,” Mitchell Johnson wrote in The West Australian earlier this year.

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“The Barmy Army might call it friendly banter but when it’s day in and day out it can and does have an impact on players. I’ve been walking around with my wife and daughter and copped abuse.”

Johnson’s well-reported struggles with constant torment brings into light what awaits Steve Smith and David Warner this year. For five straight months the pair will ply their trade in a hostile environment, scrutinised by a hungry press pack who smell blood.

How the duo deal with endless cheating and sandpaper jibes will likely determine their – and perhaps, Australia’s – chances in the World Cup and the Ashes. But different characters respond to adversity in different ways. And there’s little question as to which of the two remains more vulnerable to months of ceaseless taunting.

“Smith”, cricket journalist Robert Craddock responded without hesitation when asked the question of who he is more concerned about. “Warner’s been in the rough-and-tumble all his life. You knock him down, he gets up again. He’s used to it, he shakes himself off. Smith was knocking at Bradman’s door, and suddenly spent a year in solitary confinement and has found it really hard. That’s as big a comedown we’ve seen from any Australian cricketer.”

Steve Smith

Steve Smith reacts during a press conference. (AAP Image/Brendan Esposito)

The abuse Johnson received is likely to pale in comparison to what the pair can expect. Johnson, you see, was that target for no other reason than previous success against England.

Sure, he pushed buttons with his fiery nature and stare-downs, but that was also theatre, far from the worst sporting crime. Smith and Warner, on the other hand, have actually committed a genuine sporting crime.

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There will be an element of payback from the 2017-18 Ashes, too. Then, Cricket Australia promoted a grating #BeatEngland hashtag throughout the summer that showed a lack of class.

They were utterly graceless in unveiling a ‘4-nil’ hand sign at the conclusion of the series (something still referenced, justifiably, by English cricket scribes), and smug in the way it dealt with a strange bar incident involving Jonny Bairstow.

And whether they like it or not, the revenge will be sought through a mental disintegration of Smith and Warner. If the press and crowds sense vulnerability in the former captain, that will only ensure they push even harder.

Speaking at the recent Sheffield Shield final, Andrew Symonds said it was important the pair were prepared: “What they are going to get over there is they’ll be savagely treated by the English media, by the English fans and the Barmy Army,” he said.

“They’re going to cop it in the ears. They’ve got to block that out and they’ve got to be ready to play their best cricket as soon as they get on the field.”

Justin Langer said this week they would be “really well prepared for that” and that they’ll “have strategies” to deal with it. But nothing is likely to prepare the pair for what they’ll face for five months straight in the UK.

Whether Smith can play his natural game in the face of it is perhaps the biggest challenge of his career to date.

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