Top Incidents When England Cricket Fans Faced Criticism

The absence of fans during post-pandemic cricket was felt by cricketers. As Virat Kohli signals to the crowd to boost morale, the loud cheers of fans are necessary to motivate players to put in extra effort. During the Ashes, English fans passionately supported their home team with slogans and songs to unsettle Australian players.

Also Read: Bowlers who Stunned Batters at Lord’s in Ashes 2023

However, taunting Steve Smith with “We saw you cry on TV” was not well-received. Smith responded with a memorable century in the second Test at Lord’s. English fans have been criticized for their irresponsible or bizarre acts in the past, and this article will look into some of them.

There was violence in the crowd during the 3rd Test at Headingley in 2022.

During the third and final Test between England and New Zealand in 2022, there was crowd violence between English and New Zealand fans at Headingley. A fight broke out in the Western Terrace, with footage showing fans throwing punches at each other. The incident was rightfully condemned by the English media, and the “Barmy Army” cancelled the membership of those involved in the fight.

Calling the Indian Cricket Team “Greedy,” 2022

The fifth and final Test in Manchester was cancelled due to a COVID-19 breakout in the Indian camp, disappointing billions of cricket lovers worldwide. The English supporters blamed the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the match’s cancellation and started calling Indian players greedy on social media.

They claimed that Indian fans responded by reminding them of when the English team left Sri Lanka mid-way and returned home. The same thing happened in South Africa when their players panicked and cancelled the three-match ODI series, despite having no positive cases in their camp.

Distasteful high jacking of the Wankhede message board, 2016

India clinched the five-match series 3-0 with a game to play, decimating England in the fourth test at Wankhede by an inning and 36 runs. This naturally upset the visiting English fans, who did not take the loss very well.

They resorted to distasteful behaviour by hijacking a fan messaging board to post sick jokes about well-known criminals such as Adam Johnson and Josef Fritzl, as well as Madeleine McCann and many others. Cricket pundits across the globe rightly schooled them for this pathetic behavior and called them sore losers who can’t digest a loss sportingly.

Bairstow’s run-out controversy, 2023

During the final day of the second Ashes 2023 Test at Lord’s, England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow was dismissed by a long-range stumping from Alex Carey shortly before the Lunch break.

Bairstow left his ground in the belief that the ball was declared dead and the over was concluded after ducking a slow bouncer from Cameron Green. Although Bairstow’s dismissal was within the laws of the game, there was widespread feeling around Lord’s that it was not in the “spirit of the game.”

The Australian players were booed and jeered from the field, and the atmosphere turned ugly as they walked through the Long Room, an area only for MCC members and their guests. Security had to intervene to prevent members from physically confronting Australia’s players and staff.

Usman Khawaja and David Warner were involved in a heated, finger-pointing debate and had to be pulled away from the scene. Former cricketers and experts reminded them of Bairstow himself trying to dismiss Marnus Labuschagne in the same manner on Day 3 of the same Test.

Indian fans were subjected to racial comments at Edgbaston in 2022

During the fifth and final Test match between India and England at Edgbaston in 2022, Indian fans were subjected to racial abuse by English supporters towards the end of Day 4. The Indian fan group Bharat Army made several allegations on social media, claiming that they were called “smelly p**** and curry c***,” with several videos in support of their claims.

An investigation into allegations of racist abuse was launched and later proved to be true. This behaviour is unacceptable and everyone, from former cricketers to media houses, has strongly condemned the culprits.

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