Fans who booed Smith are not cricket lovers: Mitchell Johnson

Former Australian bowler Mitchell Johnson has not taken booing of Steven Smith in a healthy spirit as he said 'fans who booed the player are not cricket lovers'.

"It has really disappointed me. I do not care what people say. Yes, they can say he is a cheat and whats why we are booing him but that is absolute rubbish to me. Yes, he has done what he has done," Johnson can be heard saying in a video posted by ESPN Cricinfo.

Smith had to deal with two blows on day four of the second Test match at Lord's Cricket Ground. Firstly he was struck on the elbow by Jofra Archer and soon after he received a striking blow on the neck by a bouncer bowled by the pacer and he immediately went down.

Physios from both England and Australia attended Smith, but the batsman had to leave the park in order to have a concussion test. A little while later, the batsman made his way back to the crease, but a section of England crowd was seen booing the player.

"One of the biggest disappointing things for me was the crowd and I am not saying it was the whole crowd, but there were a couple of boos that you could hear through the microphone," Johnson said.

"You can boo him when he comes out to bat at the start of innings, but seeing him getting booed when he came back out after being struck by Archer, that was disappointing. The fans that booed Smith are not cricket fans according to me," he added.

Smith went on to play a knock of 92 runs against England in the first innings of the second Test match.

The right-handed batsman has been in a rich vein of form as he struck centuries in both innings of the first Test match. He became only the fifth Australian to score centuries in both innings of Ashes Test.

He also surpassed Indian skipper Virat Kohli to become the second-fastest batsman to register 25 Test centuries.

Ever since, Australia landed in Australia to play the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup and Ashes, Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft have been subjected to boos from the England crowd.

The trio was involved in a ball-tampering scandal against South Africa in 2018 and this resulted in the players getting suspended for one year.

In the ongoing second Test of the Ashes, England will resume day five at 96/4 with a lead of 104 in the second innings.