Ah, The Art Of Sledging For Fun, Not Malice

Ah, the art of sledging for fun, not malice By Will Swanton June 12, 2005 The Sun-Herald Page Tools •

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Champion sledger: Merv Hughes. Photo: Reuters

Merv Hughes was bowling to Hansie Cronje during a tour game in South Africa. 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. Ah, sledging.

An interesting aspect of the Ashes tour will be how often the Australians indulge in their renowned banter, and how much offence the Englishmen take; how personal the Australians get and whether the Englishmen feel bold enough to return fire. But before there's too much whingeing about it . . . what exactly is the problem? Sledging is a part of cricket. WG Grace did it. Once given out leg-before, he refused to walk and told the bowler: "They came to watch me bat, not you bowl". And the innings continued. Grace's ability to stand his ground would have done Steve Waugh proud. Once, when the ball knocked off a bail, he 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." AdvertisementAdvertisement

The best WG Grace sledge was on him, though, not from him. 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." Ah, sledging. So long as it doesn't get personal - Glenn McGrath and Ramnaresh Sharwan in the West Indies in 2003, for example - it's harmless, isn't it? Like Inzamam-ul-Haq telling Brett Lee to "stop bowling off spinners". That's funny stuff from big Inzy. And Javed Miandad telling Hughes he resembled a fat bus conductor, only for Hughes to scream, "Tickets pleeease!" after getting him out next ball. And the county bowler who beat the bat of Viv Richards and dared tell him the ball was red and weighed about six ounces; Richards hit the next ball for six and replied: "You know what it looks like, now go f---ing find it." Ah, sledging. Like Ian Healy telling Arjuna Ranatunga he couldn't have a runner for being a fat bastard. Or suggesting a Mars Bar be placed down the pitch to tempt him to move down the track. "It's all fun," Ashes tourist Justin Langer said. "People put personal abuse and sledging under the same bracket but it's just not the case. In my career I've seen it get personal only once - McGrath and Sarwan. "There's too much made of it. It should be appreciated as part of the game."

Ah, sledging. Sledging is a term used in cricket to describe the practice whereby some players seek to gain an advantage by insulting or verbally intimidating the opposing batsman. The purpose is to try to weaken the opponent's concentration, thereby causing him to make mistakes or underperform. It can be effective because the batsman stands within hearing range of the bowler and certain close fielders; and vice-versa. The insults may be direct or feature in conversations among fielders designed to be overheard. There is debate in the cricketing world as to whether this constitutes poor sportsmanship or good-humoured banter.[1] Sledging is often mistaken for abuse, and whilst comments aimed as sledges do sometimes cross the line into personal abuse, this is not usually the case. Sledging is usually simply an often humorous, sometimes insulting attempt at distraction. Former Australian captain Steve Waugh referred to the practice as 'mental disintegration'.

According to Ian Chappell, the use of "sledging" as a term originated at Adelaide Oval in either the 1963-1964 or 1964-1965 Sheffield Shield competition. Chappell claims that a cricketer who swore in the presence of a woman was said to have reacted to an incident "like a sledgehammer". As a result, the direction of insults or obscenities at opponents became known as "sledging".[2] Despite the relatively recent coining of the term, the practice is as old as cricket itself, with historical accounts of witty banter between players being quite common. According to the BBC’s Pat Murphy: “My understanding is that it came from the midsixties and a guy called Graham Calling, who used to open the bowling for New South Wales and Australia… apparently the suggestion was that this guy’s wife was [having an affair] with another team-mate, and when he came into bat [the fielding team] started singing When a Man Loves A Woman, the old Percy Sledge number.”[3]

[edit] WG Grace Former English batsman William Gilbert Grace who was one of England's best batsmen of the 19th century, was notorious for his humorous quips. On one occasion having been clean bowled, he stated: "Twas the wind which took thy bail orf [sic], good sir." The umpire replied: "Indeed, doctor, and let us hope thy wind helps the good doctor on thy journey back to the pavilion."[4] On another occasion he was out leg before wicket but refused to leave, claiming: "They came to watch me bat, not you bowl". However perhaps the best instance of sledging involving Grace was by bowler Charles Kortright. Repeatedly frustrated in his attempts to dismiss Grace by the umpire who refused to give him out, Kotright finally knocked

two of Grace's stumps out of the ground. As Grace reluctantly began to return to the pavillion, Kotright farewelled him with: "Surely you're not going, doctor? There's still one stump standing."[5]

[edit] Viv Richards The great West Indian batsman Viv Richards was notorious for punishing bowlers that dared to sledge him. So much so, that many opposing captains banned their players from the practice. However in a county game against Glamorgan, Greg Thomas attempted to sledge him after he had played and missed at several balls in a row. He asked Richards: "It's red, round and weighs about five ounces, in case you were wondering." Richards hammered the next delivery out of the ground and into a nearby river. Turning to the bowler, he commented: "Greg, you know what it looks like, now go and find it."[6]

[edit] Merv Hughes Sledging is common at most levels of the game in Australia, but one Australian with a particular reputation for sledging was former fast bowler Merv Hughes. His intimidating and aggressive bowling style was often accompanied by a mixture of humorous witticisms, and vitriolic abuse. On occasions he crossed the line from sledging to insulting. However there are numerous occasions of classic sledges delivered by Hughes. On one such occasion, Hughes was bowling to Pakistan batsman Javed Miandad, who informed the overweight bowler he looked like "a fat bus conductor". The very next ball, Hughes bowled Miandad, screaming "tickets please!" as he ran to celebrate with team mates.

[edit] Harbhajan – Symonds incident (2007 - 2008) Sledging came into the media spotlight during the 2007-08 Indian tour of Australia when Harbhajan Singh was accused of alleged racial abuse towards Andrew Symonds.[7] The allegation was not proved and a proposed three-match ban on Harbhajan was lifted.[8] He was instead charged with a Level 2.8 offence (abuse and insult not amounting to racism) to which he pleaded guilty and was fined 50 per cent of his match fees, although the Appeals Commissioner later noted that had he been aware of Harbajan's prior record, a one-Test ban would have been issued.[9] Symonds admitted that it was he who started the abuse between the two players by using offensive language

Gambir is showing lot of immaturity in his utterings just at a time when his batting has blossomed and is realising his true potential.he has to learn a lot from the likes of Dravid,Tendulkar,Sehwag in diplomatically dealing with situations.As an international test player it is not enough to raise ur game but also the way one conducts oneself.Further he must also realise that match refrees like Broad have a distinct dislike for Indians and What has he achieved other than getting a test ban.One has to be smart to outsmart the cleverly designed plots of provocation