England paceman Stuart Broad, an authority on copping abuse during Ashes tours, believes the treatment dished out to Steve Smith at Edgbaston is part of being a professional sportsman.

Smith was booed while walking on and off the ground, upon reaching 50 and 100, and when he finally fell for 144 on Thursday.

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Some English fans donned masks of Smith fashioned from the photo of him repeatedly breaking down in tears at Sydney airport last year, and waved sandpaper at the batsman.

Some supporters screamed out "cheat" or chanted "we saw you cry on the telly".

Virat Kohli successfully asked India's fans to stop booing Smith during the World Cup but England's Test captain Joe Root and one-day skipper Eoin Morgan have both opted against trying to moderate fans' behaviour.

"Having gone through getting a bit of stick in Australia, I think it's part of being a professional sportsman," Broad said.

"I actually quite enjoyed it. It was something a bit different and it was a bit of a challenge for me going to Australia, and getting ready for that sort of crowd stuff.

"I think footballers who play away from home get it all the time ... it's just a bit unexpected sometimes in cricket, but Smithy seemed to deal with it OK."

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Broad was targeted with verbals in the street and from the outer in Australia during 2013-14 after Darren Lehmann called on the "Australian public (to) give it to him right from the word go for the whole summer".

"I hope he cries and he goes home," Lehmann, then Australia coach, said at the time.

Smith insisted Thursday's noise didn't bother or motivate him.

"I know I've got the support of the boys in the room and, for me, that's all that really matters," he said.

"The Aussie supporters that were here, they were very loud today when I got to a hundred. It's great to have some Aussie support over here."

Meanwhile, Broad had a wry dig at Tim Paine's pre-match declaration he could easily think of 15 venues more intimidating than Edgbaston.

"One thing's for sure, that atmosphere was lively today. It was loud. It's certainly in my top 15," Broad quipped.