**Ah, the art of sledging for fun, not malice
**By Will Swanton
June 12, 2005
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.”
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 b*****d. 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.
