Sports Live: Australia coach Justin Langer said his team won’t be rattled by a hostile reception at the World Cup as England’s Barmy Army gave them a taste of what to expect. The defending champions are on a hot run of one-day form and have been
boosted by the return of Steve Smith and David Warner after their one-year bans for ball-tampering.

But a trip to England is never easy, and the visit for the World Cup followed by an Ashes Test series is shaping up to be even more challenging than usual after the cheating row.

England’s fiery Barmy Army supporters rarely need much incentive to get stuck into their arch-rivals and got the ball rolling on Twitter Thursday with a brutal pot shot. In a taste of what to expect from British crowds, they doctored an image of Warner’s official World Cup player portrait, replacing ‘Australia’ on the front of his shirt with ‘Cheats’.

Warner returned to the Australian team this week after prolific form at the Indian Premier League, while Smith stroked an unbeaten 89 in Brisbane against a New Zealand XI on Wednesday. Langer said Warner “has got this look in his eye at the moment”, while praising Smith’s innings as a “tutorial in batting”.

Heading into this week’s ‘unofficial’ three-match one-day practice series against a New Zealand XI, Australia had won eight one-dayers on the trot, against India and Pakistan.

Dhaka, 10 May (campuslive24.com)//MIH