BRANSGORE thrower Scott Mitchell insisted he would laugh at those who criticised him on social media.

The Dorset star received negative comments online regarding the pace of his game following his World Championship exit to Belgian Andy Baetens last month.

One Twitter post told the 47-year-old to “try speeding up a bit” while another accused the 2015 Lakeside champion of “gamesmanship”.

Mitchell told the Daily Echo: “I think you have to laugh at it. You don’t see graffiti on toilet walls any more because most of it’s on Facebook or Twitter – that's the way I look at it.

“I am quite light-hearted and some of the muck that’s thrown doesn’t always stick with me.

“Nine times out of 10 it is people who have bet on you and you have lost, so they lose their money. As players, we can’t think about that.

“You have to take it with a pinch of salt, try to rise above it and not bite because no matter how right you are, there is always someone on social media who will argue the difference.

“You can’t win an argument on Twitter. Some of it gets to you and you think ‘really?’ but you don’t take more than two or three seconds' notice of it.

“The bit that gets me is the person coming to tell you someone has written something about you. You then think ‘are you trying to wind me up? Are you the problem now?’

“But I'm not the new boy any more. I have had much worse and I am sure I will get far worse in the future.”

Speaking about the pace of his game, the avid Poole Pirates fan added: “I'm not really built for speed so I don’t understand where that came from!

“I don’t try to put anyone off, it’s just the routine I have and one or two get carried away with it.

“When you put yourself out there to the public I’m afraid you are not always going to be everybody’s cup of tea.”

Mitchell has again been announced as England’s captain for the British Internationals. The team event is set to take place in Merthyr Tydfil at the start of April.

The former Lakeside champion recently helped Dorset record a 19-17 triumph over Essex in the British Inter-County Championship.