Aaron Finch plays down Steve Smith and David Warner World Cup security concerns

Australia one-day captain Aaron Finch said everything had been put in place to protect disgraced pair Steve Smith and David Warner during the World Cup in England.

Former skipper Smith and fellow star batsman Warner onlyreturned to international duty earlier this month after completing one-yearbans for their roles in a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

   

There have long been concerns the players could be on thereceiving end of crowd taunts during a lengthy tour of England that alsoincludes an Ashes series, although England all-rounder Moeen Ali has called forhome fans to show restraint.

A report in the Daily Mirror newspaper on Thursday saidWarner’s manager had sought security assurances from Cricket Australia, withthe batsman’s wife wanting to give birth to their third child in Britain.

But Finch, speaking at a World Cup captains’ pressconference in London on Thursday, a week before the tournament starts, wasconfident both Smith and Warner would be able to concentrate on their cricket.

“Since they’ve come back into the squad and the set-up thelast couple of weeks they’ve been fantastic,” said Finch, looking to leadAustralia to a successful defence of the title they won on home soil four yearsago.

“They’ve contributed as much as they can and the morale hasbeen unbelievable.

“Once the World Cup gets under way and you start gettinginto the tournament, probably the game against England, and then further on theAshes there’s no doubt the crowd will start to play a bit of a part but that’sexpected.

“No matter where you go the fans play a big part.

“No doubt personally and as an organisation they’ve gotthings in place for that, but how they’ve been in the run-up to the tournamenthas been fantastic.”England play Australia in a World Cup warm-upmatch in Southampton on Saturday.

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