To sledge or not to sledge?

I once asked Michael Holding if the fearsome West Indian pace quartet had ever sledged the opposition with a view to gaining an advantage. First, he grinned. Then, in that lovely Jamaican drawl, he said: "No, maan, we had this to intimidate them with." He was holding an imaginary cricket ball in his hand.

Holding, Marshall, Roberts and Garner, with cameo appearances from Croft, Clarke, Daniel and Davis. Has a more fearsome collection of quick bowlers ever been assembled? Were they ever potty-mouthed? Almost without exception, no. They did a mean glare that could freeze a batsman's marrow - something that Curtly Ambrose perfected years later - but there was no trash talk.

After the furore over Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds, the question is being asked again. Does sledging need to be taken out of the game? Simon Barnes, one of the finest writers on sport today, is unequivocal about where he stands.

"Sledging is part of the game, Australians say," he wrote. "That’s true, just as kicking people in the shins is part of football and punching people in the nose is part of rugby. Both these acts are punished. Offenders concede fouls and get sent off. Punishment doesn't stop it, but it keeps it under control. But sledging has been out of control for years...Australia has long promoted mental disintegration; as a result, we are facing the disintegration of cricket."

His view was echoed by the equally articulate Tim de Lisle over on Cricinfo. While mentioning Sir Don Bradman's stand on sledging [against it], he writes: "Sledging has been rife for years, and it stinks. It's a sad, feeble way to try and take a wicket. Bowlers should use the ball, and their talent: that's what they're for. Batsmen who answer in kind, like Kevin Pietersen, who allegedly yelled "Fetch it!" at Symonds last year to give the impression that he was a specialist fielder, are little better."

My views are slightly different. I struggle to recall cricket moments that have given me greater cause for mirth than Kumar Sangakkara's sledging of Mark Boucher and Shaun Pollock in 2002-03. Without being crude, Sangakkara got stuck in and showed that Asian teams could dish it out as well. And he did it all with a smile and a sense of humour.

Sadly, articulate and witty men like Sangakkara are nearly extinct in modern-day cricket, which specialises in the uncouth poseur who has the average vocabulary of a 10-year-old. Most don't do funny sledges. Instead they specialise in vile, personal abuse that has no place in any civilised society. You can only question the upbringing of those that call that playing hard and fair.

Indians and Pakistanis are certainly no angels in this regard. Anil Kumble recently got Mohammad Yousuf so agitated with some words from gully that Yousuf actually went over to complain. He was out soon after. And Javed Miandad once got Dilip Doshi, India's left-arm spinner, incredibly worked up by asking him for his hotel-room number. Doshi went and complained to Sunil Gavaskar, who stepped in and asked why Javed needed the information. The reply was a classic. "I need it," Javed lisped, "so that I can whack the next ball into it."

And while they might have done little right on the field or off it over the past few years, Zimbabwe cricket can still boast of the game's greatest sledge. "Why are you so fat, mate?" asked Glenn McGrath of Eddo Brandes, the chicken-farmer who did for England in the 1992 World Cup. Pat came the reply. "Each time I f*** your wife, she gives me a biscuit." Cue Australian close-in fielders collapsing in heaps of laughter.

Do we really want to outlaw such exchanges from the game?

Comments

[Vineet Raj Kapoor]

Well the Aussies are just taking advantage of the fact that the ICC dictionary of blacklisted words has more Hindi words than English. And English abuses aren’t abuses.

The same blokes cry when some kid in their schools can’t take it anymore and wields a gun. Sledging and abusing are different and here we’re seeing abusive language and bullying.

I sure an happy to see that young Indian blokes have stood up to the challenge like no team before them and are ready to show the way to the door along with a tip (15% of their match fees) to the ICC!

Read more of this at: http://www.onedayers.com/cricket/odi/world-cup/repository-articles/2008/02/26/is-sledging-an-art-form.html

I play cricket in a Canadian league, the only white guy in a Carribean team.

I don't feel insulted when I'm called snowy or white guy.... I thought it was nice to take 6 for 32 against an Indian team and see my name in the score book as "white guy"

Being callled crocodile dundee made me shiver though.

Funny comments happen all the time, some people don't take jokes well. Calling a batsman with no idea ( no eye deer) bamby is ok. I've even asked for a bell to be put in the ball when a bowler beat me with outswing on a regular basis.

He even applauded my joke and applauded me off when he finally got me out.

Racism has no place in life, but racism is everywhere ignorance is... that means it is everywhere.

How are you going to fix ignorance?

[jim, sydney]

For those who want to ban sledging, first you have to define it. If an imposing, intimidating fast bowler, after the batsman plays and misses, tells that batsman he has missed the ball by a mile, that is a sledge, though only stating a truth. How do you ban that? Should teams be banned from talking to each other? We all recognise some obviously nasty or unacceptable sledging, so some guidelines could probably cover those, such as racist comments. However, I'd defy anyone to come up with a definition that covers all sledging! A comment is a sledge in the mind of the listener or target if he reacts negatively to it. The best answer is to be mentally tough and confident enough to be able to ignore or laugh at it.

[Fly on the Wall]

Botham's response to Marsh: "Wife's fine, the kids are retarded!"
Nice collection, too.

[Liz Clements]

England

You can have Peter Roebuck back thanks.

[Dileep]

Then we really might as well play tiddlywinks. The day the Sangakkara type of sledge is banned is the day the true spirit of the game dies. If you've ever played any type of sport, you appreciate banter. It's only when banter becomes abuse that there's a problem.

[suresh]

1. Sledging of all forms should be banned from cricket.
2. All decisions no matter how small should be confirmed with the third umpire, including lbw. The two umpires in between should be in constant conversation between balls with the third umpire.
3. Cricketers should be made to mandatorily hug opposition player before every day's play

[s khanna]

sledging should not be f..k.n banned, we as indians are warming up to it. shucks man!... what kinda party poopers you are?

if this hadn't blown up, it would have been fun welcuming aussies for IPL league series in april 07.

anyway the players may be restrained , but not us ... ha!

[jim, sydney]

Lets laugh some more:
--In a Sheffield Shield game between NSW and SA, a Waugh twin was taking an enternity to take guard, asking the umpire for centre, middle and leg, two legs - the whole lot. Then he steps away towards leg side and has another look around the field, before re checking centre. Jamie Siddons, a prolific run scorer who unluckily never played a test is at slip, and decided enough is enough. "For christ sake, it's not a 'f*cken test match." Waugh replies: "Of course it isn't ... You're here."
--In the 1980's Ian Botham returned early from a tour of Pakistan, and on radio joked "Pakistan is the sort of country to send your mother in-law to." Needless to say the Pakistanis did not find this amusing, and when Pakistan defeated England in the 1992 World Cup Final, Aamer Sohail told Ian Botham "Why don't you send your mother-in-law out to play, she cannot do much worse."
--In one of the tour matches in South Africa, Australia played Hansie Cronje's province. Cronje was at the non strikers end, there was a short chubby batsman on strike. Ian Healy yelled to Warne, "Bowl a Mars Bar half way down...We'll get him stumped" The Aussies and Cronje were all in hysterics, all this was before a classic reply from the batsman. "Nah, Boonie (David Boon) fielding at short leg will be onto it before I can move."
--Tino Best, never short of a word or two when he is bowling, was done up like a kipper by the England all-rounder as West Indies slumped to defeat in the first Test. Flintoff saw his opponent preparing to face Giles' off-spin and shouted: "Watch the windows, Tino!" The wind-up had the desired effect, causing Best to come charging out of his crease like a man possessed. He took a wild swing at the ball, missed and was promptly stumped by Geraint Jones. Flintoff spent the next five minutes laughing, as Best sat on the balcony rueing his stupidity.
--Gavaskar had decided to relinquish his opening position and come in at no 4 for that test. But, Malcolm Marshall fired out Anshuman Gaekwad and Dilip Vengsarkar for ducks, setting the stage for Gavaskar to walk in at 0/2.And he thought there would be less pressure! Viv Richards says, "Man, it don't matter when you come in to bat, the score is still zero."
--Watson started giving Pietersen some lip (strangely after Pietersen had put him 10 rows back!) to which Pietersen apparently retaliated with ”You’re just upset ‘cos no-one loves you anymore!” Watson proceeded to lose the plot. Ponting and Martyn afterwards in the background were having a chuckle with Pietersen, acknowledging the good sledge as Watson sauntered off to fine leg.
--South Africa were touring New Zealand. Darryl Cullinan comes in to bat. A young Daniel Vettori bowls to him and beats the outside edge of the bat, to which Adam Parore (the New Zealand wicketkeeper) replied: “Bowled Shane!!”. Apparently Cullinan’s face turned all colours of the rainbow!!
--Andre Nel was aiming to clean up the Indian tale enders when Sreesanth came into bat. firsts ball Nel welcomes him with a bouncer. All fired up, Nel runs down the wicket and says “Mate u gotta have heart to play that or you're not gonna be standing at this crease for long.” Next ball Ssreesanth steps down the wicket and slams Nel over his head for a huge six!!!! The best part was the dance after!!!! One very happy, excited Indian!
--Once, when the ball knocked off a bail, W.G.Grace replaced it and told the umpire: "Twas the wind which took thy bail orf, good sir." The umpire replied: "Indeed, doctor, and let us hope thy wind helps the good doctor on thy journey back to the pavilion."
--Charles Kortright had dismissed him four or five times in a county game - only for the umpires to keep turning down his appeals. Finally, he uprooted two of Grace's three stumps. Grace stalled, as though waiting for a no-ball call or something, before reluctantly walking off with Kortright's words in his ears: "Surely you're not going, doctor? There's still one stump standing."
And can you sledge your own mates under tough sledge rules?-------
--Frank Tyson or Fred Truman (reports vary, but it sounds like Fred). The batsman edges and the ball goes to first slip,and right between Raman Subba Row's legs. Fred doesn't say a word. At the end of the over, Row ambles past and apologises sheepishly. "I should've kept my legs together." and the bowler, still upset, replied "So should have your mother!"
--"If it had been a cheese roll it would never have got past him." Graham Gooch sledges one of his own, Mike Gatting, after Shane Warne's first Ashes delivery bowled Gatting.
--And it was Doug Walters to his team-mate Ashley Mallett, after Mallet had again been hit for another six, who quipped "Well, that gets rid of the reds, so I quess we're on to the colours..........."
And what about the crowd. Should they be evicted for shouting out a sledge such as these?--
--At the SCG Len Pascoe had bowled loosely including several wides, and been smashed around the ground by the West Indies. After another fielding lapse when he let a ball through to the boundary, a voice yelled " Geez, can't bowl, can't field. I bloody well hope you can bat, Pascoe!".
--"Tufnell! Can I borrow your brain? I'm building an idiot" An Aussie heckler for spinner Phil Tufnell during the 1994-95 tour.

[jim, sydney]

Lets all lighten up. Some sledging is just fun banter at the edge of gamesmanship. It isn't all unacceptable, merely part of life. So long as it doesn't get nasty or personal or incessant, it's not a problem.
Telling a hopeless tailender who has played and missed numerous times that the thing in his hand is for hitting the ball is a sledge, but a funny one. It may psychologically help destroy his confidence further and contribute to his downfall, so....worthy of a fine or sending off?
Telling a bowler that the thing in his had is cannon fodder, that he can't bowl for peanuts, and then belting him over the park, is sledging. You've got rid of the reds so why not try the colured balls next? Large fine? Suspension for a match?

And how do you judge these former sledges, and do you punish them or applaud them?-------
-- "So how's your wife and my kids" Former Aussie wicketkeeper Rod Marsh to Ian Botham.
--"Hell, Gatt, move out of the way. I can't see the stumps!" Aussie legend Dennis Lillee after stopping in his run-up to Mike Gatting during the opening match of England's 1994-95 tour.
--"You can't f....... bat!" Merv Hughes to England's Robin Smith in the 1989 Lords Test. Smith quips right back at Hughes after he cracked one of his ensuing balls to the boundary. "Hey, Merv, we make a fine pair. I can't f.... bat, and you can't f.... bowl!"
-- "F... me, look who it is. Mate, what are you doing here? There's no way you're good enough to play for England."Mark Waugh to Jimmy Ormond. "Maybe not, but at least I'm the best player in my family."
-- "A cricket tour in Australia would be the most delightful period in your life...if you were deaf." Said by bodyline fast bowler Harold Larwood, so sledging has being going on for decades!!
--As Cullinan was on his way to the wicket, Warne told him he had been waiting 2 years for another chance to humiliate him. "Looks like you spent it eating," Cullinan retorted.
--Merv Hughes & Javed Miandad in the 1991 Adelaide Test against Pakistan. Hughes was less than impressed when Javed called him a "fat bus conductor" as the pair squared up to one another. A few balls later, Hughes got his man and as Javed walked past, could not resist shouting "Tickets, please!"
--Merv Hughes was one of the greatest exponents of the fine "art" of sledging. Once during a tour game in South Africa Hughes was bowling to Hansie Cronje . It was an especially flat wicket and Cronje was hitting Hughes for fours and sixes all over the place. After the umpteenth boundary, Hughes headed down the pitch, stood near Cronje, let out a fart and said: "Try hitting that for six." It was five minutes before the guffawing stopped and play could resume.
--Greg Thomas was bowling to Viv Richards in a county game. Viv missed a superb out swinger, and Thomas said "It's red, round and weighs about 5 1/2 ounces." Next ball Viv hits Greg Thomas out of the ground for a 6 and replies,"Greg, you know what it looks like. Go ahead and find it!"
--Ravi Shastri v/s the aussie 12th man Mike Whitney. Shastri hits it and looks for a single...Whitney gets the ball in and says "if you leave the crease I'll break your f...ing head" Shastri: "if you could bat as well as you can talk you wouldn't be the f...ing 12th man"
--Steve Waugh...Last Test...comes up to bat...PArthiv-"so this is your last test...show us some of those famous slog-sweeps of yours." Steve- "Respect Me...For when I made my test debut You were still in your nappies"
--Malcolm Marshall was bowling to David Boon who had played and missed a couple of times. Marshall : "Now David, Are you going to get out now or am I going to have to bowl around the wicket and kill you?"
--In an England v Australia Test during early 1960's Trueman was fielding close to the gate from the pavilion. As a new batsman came out he turned to shut the gate, Trueman said "Don't bother son, you won't be out there long enough.

[Benzo]

Helen Barker has hit this issue out of the park . \o/

[Dave Laidler]

The margins between success and failiure in todays professional sporting environment are so narrow that teams will inevitably look for psychological advantages where there are less clear physical or skill related ones. To win a professional sports match, either team or individual based, there needs to be an expectation of success , rather than hope that ' you might do it if you play well' mentality. Australian teams have this mentality in all of the professional sport they play, meaning that when they are equally matched with opponents on the field in terms of skill, they invariably win due to their stronger psychologcal attitude that transfers through both sets of players. There have been far too few occasions when England have beaten Australia in recent times, but the Ashes series of 2005 proved that it can be done. In this series, England played some sensational cricket and fully matched the Austrailians in terms of skill with the bat, ball and in the field. HOWEVER, there was one clear reason why England won that series and that was their attitude towards the series after the performance at Lords. England believed they could not just match Austrailia, but they could beat them and they were not shy about expressing those thoughts. England showed Australia that they were more than happy to push the boundaries of legality through their policy of substitute fielders & did not crumble in the face of intense Austrailian sledging, rather gave it back with some interest to a somewhat suprised Austrailian camp.

Psycological pressure will always be a key part of sport that enables teams to seperate themselves from their opponents. It is the team with the strongest will, combined with sporting ability that eventually wins out. It is on this basis that i feel any act to outlaw sledging from cricket would be wrong. Clearly I do not condone racism and would agree that verbal abuse in the form of swearing is not good for cricket, but I do not feel that punishment for unsporting behaviour would be appropriate either. How would the ICC go about trying to reprimand Freddie Flintoff for his helpful comment to Tino Best of the West Indies "Mind the Windows Tino" which was possibly the best tactical piece of sporting pyschology I have ever seen... it would certainly have to be done with a smile on the umpires face!

[saha]

what is then the difference between sledging and indecency?if sledging is ok then let's all do it in life-why limit it to field?or the field is not part of life?
if any one disagrees then let me see how he/she will react to verbal abuses?
there is a LINE,and everyone must abide by it.
rules must be put in place so as to preempt such puerile exhcanges

[Andy]

wasit... that's a funny suggestion. i would not recommend it, but it made me laugh!

[Harry]

To Wasit Ali.

No they aren't.

Please stop making things up.

[Wasit Ali]

Sledging is disgusting. Australian players are specially trained in it. They are coached in all the words that are most offensive to the other team's culture and yet do not cross the ICC red line. They are perhasps also trained in how to intimidate the umpires as was so evident in the Sydney match. And now the Australians have the cheek to whine and complain and talk of the interest of Cricket. What rank hypocricy!

[Helen Barker]

I really think it is a matter for the cricket authorities to control verbal abuse among players. I have recently become a fan of Amercian Football and it seems to me they deal with bad behaviour very well - by giving power to the umpire.

If you adapt their method to cricket, you would stick a number on every player and give a mike to the umpire. If a player becomes abusive, the umpire would step away from the crease, turn on the mike and announce to the whole crowd: "Number 5, unsportsman-like conduct, bowling team, ten run penalty."

If the bowler is the offender, put the runs against his bowling figures. If the offender is a batsman, put it against his innings. I am sure the prospect of scoring less than a duck would close a few mouths.

[Branavan]

I'm with you on this one. Sledging is much like the Sri Lankan bands or the West Indian steel drum corps. You can't go to a match at Eden garden without packing some chicken biriyani from Zishan's and you most likely will not stop cricketers from bustin on each other's mamas (or wives as the case may be).

Taking the heart out of the opposing team is a crucial aspect of the momentum shift. How it was done in Bradman's time is not how modern day cricketers will do it today.

It doesn't make sense to keep the cultural ethos of the game stagnant in an attempt to recreate historical reverie.

So moderate it, don't let the boys get away with being idiots, but also don't get captains to become the team snitch like Ponting in this instance.

Remember, the class snitch is the one who gets his butt kicked after class.

Besides, it's just not cricket.

Have not laughed this much in a while. Also thanks for opening my eyes to the plethora of sledging incidents available on youtube.

[John Jorrocks]

If no one is going to praise Dileep Premachandran for his level-headedness and sanity, may I? What a sensible article this is.
Among Sri Lankans who bring glory to the game, Sangakkara isn't alone: there is Romesh Gunesekeera, whose superb last novel is the best piece of cricketing fiction since J.L. Carr's novel, A Season in Sinji.
If Sri Lanka were India, we'd hear more about those dashing players who played their cricket before Sri Lanka became a Test-playing country: Duleep Mendis and Roy Dias, in particular.

[Frank Upton]

The problem with sledging in cricket is that it makes big ruts in the pitch and the huskies make a nasty mess.

[Tarun Y]

Yeah - but will the crowds forget?

Would you put your mortgage on none of the crowd in the Nahar Singh stadium or Green Park jumping up and down, making 'ooh ooh' noises when Symonds comes out to bat, or is fielding by the boundary?

I know I wouldnt. This IPL - if not for being a logistical disaster(with half these players on tour elsewhere)- will be a PR disaster waiting to happen with some of the Aussie names signed up.

tomorrow's chip wrappers indeed, but the taunts (I doubt) will go away unless the police gets involved.

[Dileep]

As of now, Australia are touring the Caribbean in May, and Cricket Australia will make sure that no one makes it for the IPL. By the time the players turn up next year, all of this would have died down. After all, today's news is tomorrow's fish n chips [wrapping].

[Tarun Y]

Hi Dileep,

A question for you:

How do you think the IPL is going to play out now? surely that has to be in huge,huge jeopardy (what with the simmering tension between both boards) and the 'star' signings (eg Symonds et al) coming to India after all of this has happened?

The (relatively) liberal, easy-going types of Mumbai gave Symonds a hard time last year. Hows it going to be with the more 'bhaiya','jaat' types in the North?? I cant see any of the boos/jeers/chants ceasing in places like Delhi, Faridabad,Kanpur (and throw in Mohali too).

what are your views?

[Tarun Y]

Hi Dileep,

There have been some great 'sledges' in the past (I think you've mentioned the best one between McGrath and Brandes) BUT I think its time for them to go.

Two reasons:

1) People that give it out, inevitably can't take it, and also- the lines become blurred. (eg, the same McGrath didnt much like it when Ramnaresh Sarwan gave a response similar to Brandes [although he didnt know that she'd been diagnosed with cancer]).

2) In the last 5 years, its turned very trashy. Prior and Pietersen for England, half the Aussie team, Andre Nel from S.Africa, Sreesanth and Bhajji from India.

I say " $!!? it". do away with all trash talk!