Four years may have passed since the ball-tampering scandal involving Steve Smith and David Warner, but the duo remain public enemy No.1 in the eyes of England cricket fans.
Smith and Warner were mercilessly booed and jeered during the 2019 Ashes series in England as they returned to Test cricket.
The pair were banned from the game for 12 months after directing batter Cameron Bancroft to tamper the ball using a piece of sandpaper during the third Test match of the series against South Africa in Cape Town.
If they thought English fans had moved on, the first Test at Edgbaston proved them wrong.
The Birmingham crowd was at its raucous best during a thrilling opening Test of the series, while some Aussie players gave it back in spades as they defied the famous antics of the Barmy Army to secure one of the greatest wins in Ashes history.
Steve Smith was ruthlessly sledged by England fans at Edgbaston in the first Ashes Test
David Warner was also targeted by the raucous Hollies Stand but gave some back
With Australia having briefly managed to quieten the fans on Day 4 as England lost wickets at regular intervals during their second innings, Smith was asked to field in front of the Eric Hollies Stand.
The home of The Barmy Army during matches at Edgbaston, the Hollies Stand is renowned as the most raucous stand in the ground and swiftly lived up to its reputation.
England fans serenaded Smith with chants of ‘Cry on the telly! We saw you cry on the telly,’ a reference to the former Aussie captain breaking down in tears as he admitted his role in the ball-tampering scandal during a press conference in Sydney.
Earlier in the day, Warner had fielded in the same spot and he too was on the receiving end of a barrage from the Hollies.
Undeterred, however, the veteran opener crossed the boundary rope with his hand held to his ear, signalling for the crowd to give him more.
Travis Head and Nathan Lyon were also among the Hollies’ favourite targets throughout the first Test, but both seemed to relish the back-and-forth with the fans.
The Aussie batter was ruthlessly sledged after dropping a catch on Day 1, but won the England supporters over by returning their banter while fielding in front of the stand.
And he even came to their rescue by recovering an inflatable beach ball that had strayed onto the pitch and launching back into the crowd much to the fans’ delight.
Lyon, meanwhile, was labelled as a ‘s**t Moeen Ali’ but silenced the crowd by takings eight wickets in the match.
The ‘Same old Aussies, always cheating’ chant was also aired regularly throughout the Test, most notably as Marnus Labuschagne appealed for a catch he had clearly grounded on Day 4.
The chant was also sang with gusto on Day 3, when the Aussies loudly appealed for the wicket of Zak Crawley as the ball cannoned into his pads twice in two balls, but did not review either of the not out decisions.
Some of the sledging, however, was in rather poor taste as it referenced convicted paedophile Rolf Harris.
‘Rolf Harris, he’s one of your own,’ some England fans sang in reference to Harris being Australian.
England fans in the Hollies Stand were in full voice throughout the Edgbaston Test
Travis Head was sledged by England fans but won them over by returning a beach ball
The Aussie batter rescued a beach ball that had strayed onto the field and launched back into the Hollies Stand much to the fans’ delight on Day 4
Harris was convicted in 2014 of the sexual assault of four underage girls, and sentenced to five years and nine months in prison and died last month aged 93.
Speaking after removing Labuschagne and Smith at the end of Day 4, England seamer Stuart Broad hailed the Edgbaston crowd.
‘I must admit I absolutely every second of that last hour tonight,’ he said, reflecting on how the noise from the Hollies Stand drove him on.
‘It was so good running in, just hearing that roar and the cheers. It’s so special to play Test match cricket in front of crowds like this. Ashes cricket is just magical, isn’t it?’
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