'More boos and taunts will continue to power Warner up': Warner's manager, Erskine

Melbourne: English crowds are “stupid” to jeer David Warner at the Cricket World Cup as it will only fire him up, the Australian batsman’s manager James Erskine has said.

Warner, who has returned to the side following a 12-month ban for ball-tampering, was booed by the crowd during Australia’s opening match against Afghanistan in Bristol but struck an unbeaten 89 and was named man-of-the-match.

“I am English. Where the Poms are stupid is that it is actually going to encourage him. It will actually help him. The fact of the matter is, you concentrate, he won’t want to fail, he got 89,” Erskine said in comments published by Fairfax Media.

“They will learn very smartly that they are dealing with someone who has got the powers of concentration and his willpower, it’s no different from a Steve Waugh or a Nick Faldo. That’s exactly what will happen here.”

While former captain Steve Smith and test opener Cameron Bancroft — the other players punished for ball-tampering — have given media interviews about the Cape Town scandal, Warner has declined to comment publicly.

He has dodged media interviews at the World Cup, barring a mandatory comment on-field with the host broadcaster after claiming the man-of-the-match award.

Erskine defended Warner’s silence.

“There is no point talking. What’s he going to talk about?

“I think that policy will work ... if he (Warner) goes and gets a ton against England or somebody like that, people will want to a chat to him about his play.

“As I have said before, these guys (Warner and Smith) have taken a hit for a lot of other people and they paid their fine.

“They now basically have got to go out and play well and it looks as if they are going to play well.”

Australia next face West Indies in Nottingham on Thursday.