Banning sledging: Will cricket players hold their tongues?

February 24, 2015

The term “sledging” has been synonymous with professional cricket for decades.

It is the art of trying to get inside an opposition player’s head and put them off their game and has been as commonplace as centuries and five-wicket hauls.

While many countries have adopted the tactic, Australia is renowned for it. A few years ago a website ran a poll of the all-time greatest sledges and 17 of the top 20 involved Australians.

Former captain Steve Waugh famously described the approach, which started to become more prevalent during the 1970s and 1980s, as “mental disintegration”.

During this phase in the game’s history, cricket was becoming more professional and losing its tag as the ‘gentleman’s game’, yet sledging was still mostly used in good fun.

Former Australian fast bowler Merv Hughes was a repeat offender. Once when bowling to Robin Smith, the England batsman kept playing and missing deliveries from the big Australian.

A frustrated Hughes shouted out: “If you turn the bat over, you’ll get the instructions mate.”

Probably the most famous sledge came during the 1999 World Cup and involved Waugh, who popped a simple catch to South African Herschelle Gibbs in a game Australia had to win to stay alive.

Gibbs took the catch, but then celebrated prematurely as the ball spilled from his grasp. As legend has it, Waugh turned to Gibbs and declared: “You’ve just dropped the World Cup.”

There is plenty of conjecture over what words Waugh actually used, but the phrase is now part of cricketing folklore, enhanced by the fact he would lead his side to victory in a tournament Australia ultimately won.

But if the International Cricket Council has anything to do with it, sledging will become a thing of the past. During the 2015 World Cup, which started on Saturday, players can be fined or suspended if found guilty of excessive sledging.

“The behavior in some matches was deemed to be unacceptable and not a good example to young fans,” ICC chief executive David Richardson said on the eve of the tournament.

“For a first offence, you’ll likely end up with a fine. But a repeat offence will be punished with a suspension.”

The World Cup has started in friendly fashion, with packed crowds happily cheering on their teams and fierce competition–rather than snarling taunts—being the order of the day so far.

But if a team finds itself under intense pressure towards the business end of the competition, will the players be able to hold their tongues?

- by @jamesdampney23