ICC World Cup: Aussies must laugh with crowd abuse or suffer

Australian players, particularly Steve Smith and David Warner, are sure to cop it from English crowds as the World Cup, but the secret to coping is to go with the flow, writes Robert Craddock.

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Justin Langer was walking off a West Indian cricket ground after being harassed by a boisterous crowd when a strange thing happened.

Instead of storming to the sheds following a cheap dismissal on his first tour there in 1995, Langer walked to the beat of the Calypso music.

His hips swayed from side to side as if he was sashaying across a dance floor as he left the ground.

The crowd laughed at the unexpected flamboyance of it all.

Even the old hardheads in the press box chuckled but when quizzed about it later Langer revealed the incident was not quite as comical as we thought.

“I was actually really close to cracking and I thought if I didn’t so something like that I would crack,’’ said Langer.

Steve Smith (left) and David Warner are sure to cop it from English crowds during the ICC World Cup. Picture: Getty Images

All these years later as coach of the Australian team, the story of Langer’s little calypso shuffle has special relevance as his team prepares to deal with crowd abuse certain to come their way during the World Cup and Ashes following the fallout to cricket’s ball-tampering affair.

In its own quirky way, the Langer shuffle up the best way to handle raucous crowds – hard though it is – is to somehow go with the flow.

The only certainty is if you try go the other way and swim upstream you will be washed away.

Snap back, show anger, frustration or contempt, and you lose.

Players don’t have to sway hips like Langer but it seems a wry smile rather than a stone-faced grimace will be a better weapon against crowd taunts in England this summer.

Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson wears it from the Barmy Army during the 2009 Ashes third Test at Edgbaston.

When Australia were last challenged by heavy-duty crowd taunting in England in 2005 they admitted to being almost frozen in the moment.

They had not lost to England for so long they were fighting the numbing distress of their looming loss as well as the crowds.

Many of them just stood there like statues in the field, almost paralysed by the shock of it all.

This time it’s different.

Australia know they will be targets and no abuse is quite as stinging if you are ready for it.

It might be a case of them being shocked but not surprised at the taunts which come their way.

Champion NZ fast bowler Richard Hadlee learned he couldn’t beat the Aussie crowds.

Handling rowdy crowds has been a challenge for cricketers through the ages.

When New Zealand champion Sir Richard Hadlee came to Australia in the 1980s he became severely agitated by crowd abuse to the point where he used his syndicated column to question the way Australian parents were raising their children.

Bad move.

The volume of the “Hadlee’s a wanker’’ chant seemed to increase by the venue until Hadlee sought out Greg Chappell to try to find a way of defusing it.

“You are half the problem,’’ Chappell told him. “The more you complain the more you will cop. The main reason they are baiting you is because they know what a great player you are. Treat it as a compliment.

“The more you bite back the more you will get.’’

Hadlee considered it the best bit of advice he ever got in his career.

Hard though it was, he sucked up the crowd abuse and even saw the funny side of a banner which said “Hadlee’s ego is bigger than (Ken) Rutherford’s (large) nose,’’ remarking that he had no idea his ego had spiralled so much out of control.

But he was smiling through clenched teeth.

No one likes be abused but the smart ones just find a way to handle it.

Originally published as ICC World Cup: Aussies must laugh with crowd abuse or suffer