Whateley criticises "daft" English fans for booing Steve Smith

SEN’s Gerard Whateley has slammed the English fans who booed Steve Smith as he was making his way to the crease.

After Jake Weatherald was dismissed 72 runs for a plum LBW, this would bring the interim captain in with Australia having scored 146 runs for the loss of two wickets.

But as Smith made his way to the crease out on the Gabba, the English fans decided to make their feelings known to him with plenty of boos reverberating around the Gabba.

This is believed to be related to comments made by former English spinner Monty Panesar, who in the lead-up to the series suggested that the English team should attempt to sledge Smith over the infamous sandpaper ball tampering incident back in 2018, which saw him banned for 12 months.

“Ben Stokes and the England team have got to make Steve Smith feel guilty and play on that,” he said to UK bookmaker Aceodds.com.

As the boos were taking place, Whateley believed that the decision by the English fans to boo Smith was a daft one and should not be taking advice from Panesar, whom he called an imbecile.

“It’s the only regrettable part of this series; the English presence is so welcome, but their decision as a mob to boo Steve Smith is daft,” Whateley said on SEN Cricket.

“It’s so disappointing, and they would do really well to spread the word around within their own camp that it is just not on.

“It’s old, it’s got nothing to do with them, and to pick that up from an imbecile like Monty Panesar is so disappointing."

Damien Fleming would also jump in, calling their actions average.

“It’s average,” Fleming added.

“A champion player, a captain of the other nation, you’re kidding me.”

Smith is currently at the crease as Australia looks to get beyond England’s first innings total of 334.

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Or you can follow along with our live blog of the day’s action on SEN.com.au.