It has the potential to be one of the most difficult atmospheres in his long career but Steve Smith is not likely to let it get under his skin.
Australia take on Bangladesh at Trent Bridge, Nottingham tonight before their mouth-watering clash with 2019 World Cup hosts England at Lords on Tuesday night [AEST].
While Lords may not be the most hostile of venues, English crowds can be merciless. And it will be the first time Smith has played in front of them since the now infamous ball-tampering scandal in South Africa in March, 2018.
Smith was subsequently banned for a year for his role in the affair but has returned to the national side - stripped of the captaincy - as Australia look to defend their World Cup crown.
Smith, who played the NSW Premier Cricket season for his boyhood club Sutherland during his exile from international cricket, copped plenty of stick from the strong Indian crowd in Australia's 36-run loss to India at The Oval earlier in the tournament.
Indian captain Virat Kohli implored his own supporters to show Smith more respect, a gesture not lost on the 30-year-old.
"It was a lovely gesture. It doesn't really bother me what the crowd do to be perfectly honest. I'm sort of just blocking it all out. But it was a lovely gesture from Virat, that's for sure," he said.
Smith said he wasn't focused on regaining the captaincy of the side, preferring to focus on his batting. He is yet to post a big score in the tournament but has made a number of key contributions batting in the top order.
"I really didn't have any expectations of where I wanted to be. It was just about doing whatever I could to just play good cricket again and hopefully put the team in winning positions," he said.
"I've felt really good since the back end of IPL, the warm-up matches in Brisbane and [in England]. I wanted to make an impact in the real stuff and fortunately so far I guess I've been able to have some contributions without going on to get a big score yet. But hopefully that's around the corner.
"I obviously don't have to worry about [captaincy] but I don't think it ever hindered me. I think I've always just loved batting and just wanted to bat as much as I could in the nets. That probably played against me sometimes, batting too much in the nets and not freshening myself up enough,
"I'm honestly not thinking about [captaincy] at the moment. It's just about playing well in this World Cup. I think [Aaron Finch] is doing a terrific job and I'm helping him out as much as I can in certain aspects. He's doing a magnificent job."
