England fans offer up a frosty Ashes welcome to Australia

Steve Smith was mocked mercilessly by the English crowd. Photo / Twitter.

Australian captain Tim Paine said before the first Ashes Test he could name 15 grounds more intimidating than Edgbaston.

Well, the good people of Birmingham were desperate to prove him wrong.

Edgbaston is renowned for drawing the most vocal, most parochial and most enthusiastic crowd in England and it didn't disappoint as the Aussies were given an unfriendly welcome at the start of a gruelling seven-week Ashes campaign.

After Cameron Bancroft beat Marcus Harris in the fight to open the batting with David Warner, it marked the first time those two and Steve Smith were playing in a Test match together since the Cape Town cheating scandal last year.

Steve Smith was mocked mercilessly by the English crowd. Photo / Twitter.

And judging by the response they got, the English have clearly spent much of the past 16 months preparing for this day.

Some fans in the stands held up squares of sandpaper during the day and other souls even turned up wearing masks of Smith crying – the way he was when he broke down at an emotional press conference after flying home from South Africa.

The England fans have brought sandpaper to Edgbaston 😳

👉 https://t.co/uodUnJ0I7N#bbccricket #ENGvAUS #Ashes pic.twitter.com/NsYUpRpjD7

— Test Match Special (@bbctms) August 1, 2019

English crowd ripping into Steve Smith... Derogatory effigies & sandpapers !!! The guy did wrong, apologised and served his punishment.

How about ball-tampering your players indulged in the Ashes 2005? Trescothick has openly admitted he was the assigned man. Flintoff hinted too pic.twitter.com/744fgJcxtV

— Navneet Mundhra (@navneet_mundhra) August 1, 2019

Even the local hardware stores got in on the act.

Mirka yellow sandpaper, available in 5m, 10m & 50m rolls and from 40 up to 240 grit, from all Bromborough Paints branches. For use on wood, plaster, paint, cricket balls etc! #Ashes pic.twitter.com/yN7N3mryRr

— Bromborough Paints (@brompaints) August 1, 2019

The most ferocious responses were saved for the ball tampering trio but Paine didn't escape the Barmy Army's wrath when he was caught at deep square leg for five to continue a miserable collapse that saw the tourists slump to 8/122 in the middle session.

"Sacked in the morning, you're getting sacked in the morning," the England supporters chanted.

There were boos aplenty earlier in the morning when Warner and Bancroft came to the crease together but they turned into rapturous cheers when Warner was given out LBW. The sheer jubilation went to another level when replays showed the ball was going to miss the stumps.

Warner's blunder in failing to review the decision added another layer of delight to an already ecstatic home crowd.

Bancroft copped plenty of boos too when he was dismissed and they continued when he and Smith crossed paths as the former skipper entered the fray after the West Australian was caught behind the wicket.

It was difficult to know where the boos for Bancroft ended and where the boos for Smith started.