Thaindian News

London, Aug 5 (ANI): Australian captain Ricky Ponting has shrugged off the boos that he had to face during the second and third Test matches of the Ashes series at Lord’s and Edgbaston saying that he isn’t troubled by the crowd’s cold response to him during matches.

“I am told that some people have been upset about the fact that some English fans were booing me, but I thought it was a terrific atmosphere to play in,” Ponting writes in his column for The Times.

“There is never anything untoward. It is always good, light-hearted stuff, and when England have a sniff of winning the volume goes up tenfold. They add a lot to the whole experience of the Ashes,” he added.

The behaviour of the British crowds has attracted a lot of negative attention, prompting the England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke to appeal to the crowds to stop booing and maintain game’s positive spirit.

The 34 year-old further highlighted that it’s natural for the home crowd to try everything possible to unnerve the visiting players, and said that he half-expects the crowds to boo him when he walks out.

“The Edgbaston crowd were not the first to boo me this summer - but they were the loudest. Which makes sense, because Edgbaston is famous for being the bullring of English cricket,” Ponting said.”Whenever I walk out of the changing rooms I’m half-expecting it. I’m thinking: ‘Right, let’s get it out of the way, get the booing done, and then I’ll start building my innings,” he added. (ANI)