Boooooooooooooooooo!
Note: not Roooooooooooooooooooooot.
After the England vs Australia World Cup warm up match last week there seems to have been a flurry of pundits and journalists (Graeme Swann and George Dobell among them) calling for England fans to refrain from booing the convict villains all summer.
I have enormous respect for George Dobell, who works for Cricinfo and is a jolly nice chap besides being an excellent sports journalist (in contrast with little monthly blogger me – difference is well and truly recognised).
But I have to say I find the ‘stop the boos’ campaign a little sanctimonious.
What we’re talking about here, is a home crowd booing two players each time they are announced to the batting crease. It’s not happening every single time they touch the ball, or even when they return to bat after intervals. It’s once each, per innings.
As Smith himself has said, pretty much water off a duck’s back.
Now, were we talking booing every time Sandpaper #1 and Sandpaper+Punch #2 took guard, or fielded the ball, or changed fielding position, then I accept that it would become tedious, not least because it would indicate that England supporters had become boringly bitter, focussing on the sins of the old enemy rather than concentrating on the game itself.
And of course we’re not looking at a super hostile print media, or a missile-throwing, expletive-launching aggressive crowd. It’s just a few boos to signify the every day fans’ discontent with Smith and Warner’s actions.
Remember that even though the journos and pundits will be present at every day’s play this summer (lucky them, for fans like you and me!) most members of the paying public will only have one or two days out at the cricket. That means each set of ‘boorish booing fans’ (I paraphrased that) is actually made up of individuals expressing their distaste at Smith and Warner for the first and only time. Dull for the professionals having to listen to it week in, week out, I am sure, but bloody important to the supporters around you whose game was brought into disrepute and thanks to the international cycle it takes a while before we get to see these men to show them our disappointment.
I hope we have a glorious summer of cricket, with one-day and Ashes success, but I fear not for The Reverend and The Pup, protagonists in this drama, thinking them well capable of stepping up to the pantomime stage.
Tractor