The Gold Coast Bulletin

Banned duo get respite

- – SAM LANDSBERGE­R

STEVE Smith and David Warner can breathe easy with the Barmy Army set to follow English spinner Moeen Ali’s advice and give the “cheating Aussies” a break.

Few abusive English cricket fans are expected to travel to Southampto­n for Saturday’s Australia-England World Cup warm-up match, with much of the sledging set to be saved for later in the northern summer.

But while one Barmy Army song emailed between members crosses personal boundaries for Warner, co-founder Paul Burnham said “sandpaper-gate” was so long ago it would not be in sharp focus next month.

“We only play you once in the World Cup and it’s at Lord’s (on June 25), so the Barmy Army don’t get tickets there anyway,” Burnham said.

“As an ICC event there’s not many of us there. I’d guess the British public is going to give you guys a bit of stick.

“But with all those teams in the World Cup, there’s obviously a few things from the IPL where some of the Indian players will get a bit of stick.”

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