David Warner cops rough treatment from crowd during Australia’s World Cup-opening win

Australia have held team meetings specifically to address the hostile receptions they’ll receive at the World Cup. And David Warner put that to good use with the perfect response to a chorus of boss in Saturday’s opener.

Warner shut the boos out with a matchwinning 89. Picture: AFP

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Australia held a team meeting on crowd abuse that helped David Warner handle the heat as he anchored Australia’s run chase in Saturday’s easy World Cup win against Afghanistan.

A week after Steve Smith’s century was booed as he crushed England in a warm-up match, Warner’s scratchy yet unbeaten 89 — his best ODI score in 611 days — delivered Australia a seven-wicket win with 91 balls to spare.

“There were nerves getting back into the (Australian) camp and getting back into the full intensity of training,” Warner said in a brief TV interview.

“I was a little bit more relaxed once Finchy (captain Aaron Finch) started going. Playing Twenty20 cricket over the last 12-14 months hasn’t really moved my feet at all.

“To get back into a rhythm out there, start moving in the right direction and get my head over the ball was a positive.”

Two fans, watching in an adjacent building, dressed up as giant sheets of sandpaper. Picture: AFP

All of Australia’s players were invited to weigh into their discussion on crowd hostility at last month’s training camp in Brisbane.

Coach Justin Langer pleaded pre-game with English fans to show Smith and Warner respect, but it took just 13 balls for that to be ignored as Warner was booed while fetching the ball after Afghanistan’s first boundary.

The slashing opener then had his first two boundaries booed, while his half-century received a mix of cheers and jeers.

A man and a woman dressed up as giant sheets of sandpaper in an apartment balcony overlooking the ground, rubbing a giant cardboard cricket ball against themselves, while the predominantly Afghanistan crowd also chanted: “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, cheat, cheat, cheat”.

But as the Bristol locals bristled, Warner warmed up for Thursday’s match against West Indies with his biggest ever ODI score in England, just days after a scan revealed a small tear in his right glute.

“I like that knock. Just do what needs to be done for the team,” allrounder Marcus Stoinis (2/37) said.

“Perfect — be not out, get the job done, nice and clinical. That’s what the best players do.

“They have off days and they still make 80-odd not-out, 90 not-out, it’s a good start for him and good to spend time in the middle.

“Davey’s a determined individual every single day. Maybe people think he’s got a point to prove but I don’t.”

Warner shut the boos out with a matchwinning 89. Picture: AFP

Warner struggled early — his first 56 balls produced just two fours, a nick past first slip and courtesy of a free hit — but Finch’s (66 off 49) fluency and aggression meant there was no urgency.

The Aussies joked afterwards that they couldn’t remember Warner failing to smash a century when finishing unbeaten while chasing around 200.

Marcus Stoinis interacts with fans Australia’s win. Picture: AFP

The five-time World Cup champions have now won 42 out of their past 45 completed World Cup games and banked $40,000 US in prize money for beating Afghanistan.

“Obviously, we copped it in the warm-up game against England, too. But we are expecting it,” legspinner Adam Zampa (3/60) said of the crowd abuse.

“All of us, to our credit, are just getting on with the job. You heard the boos today when Smithy went out there.

“If you let it get to you, I suppose that is when something will happen. I think, yeah, we are handling it really well at the moment.”

Stoinis said: “I wouldn’t be doing it if I was in the crowd, but everyone can do what they want”.

Originally published as David Warner cops rough treatment from crowd during Australia’s World Cup-opening win