Sledging sets Cricket on Fire!!!

Sledging has been around, probably ever since Cricket has been around!!! Steve Waugh called it 'Mental Disintegration', an attempt to give a good name to the practice!! Sledging is a tactic that teams use to intimidate the opposing player or to make him lose his concentration and do something, which he would not, in normal circumstances. The sledges are often humorous that spice up a dull game but sometimes there are stares, glares and abuses. The goal of sledging is to cause passions to flow in the batsmen that will help to upset the batsman's positive outlook and poise. One of the greatest joys of watching Cricket is when a genuine fast bowler is breathing fire down the batsman's throat and after the batsman plays and misses a few, the bowler gives him a lesson or two in batting!!!

What's the main requirement of sledging?? The main requirements are a Sharp Mind and a Fiery Tongue!!! The sharp mind coupled with a fiery tongue gets the best out of the cricketers and mostly the sledging incident leads to guffaws and peals of laughter from all concerned players!!! What better player to start a topic on sledging than W G Grace!! He was a master of the game and used his sharp mind and fiery tongue to get him out of sticky situations...

• Once when he was clean bowled, he calmly replaced the bails and told the umpire "Young man, they have come to see me bat, not you Umpire!!!"

What can be more sticky for a batsman than getting out!! And how he used his fiery tongue and sharp mind to get out of it!! But it is often said that you generally find your match eventually and even someone who surpasses you!

• Once it so happened that, When the ball knocked off a bail, W G Grace replaced it and told the umpire "Twas the wind which took thy bail off, good sir." The umpire replied "Indeed, doctor, and let us hope thy wind helps the good doctor on thy journey back to the pavilion."

Dr. W G Grace, One of the earliest legends of the game
A Fiery Doctor

Dr. W G Grace would never walk and sometimes, it is said, even the umpires gave him the benefit of the doubt! This one involving W G Grace is my personal favorite... Here it goes...

• 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."

Its incidents like this that marked the career of one the earliest greats of the game - Dr. W G Grace. This incident reportedly had everyone in gags as a sheepish W G Grace made his way back to the pavilion!!!

Another player who prominently used sledging to good effect was the big built with the most fabulous mustache - the Aussie paceman Merv Hughes, also known as Big Merv!! Here are two sledging incidents involving his fiery tongue and sharp mind!!

• On a day of repeated plays and misses for Robin Smith, Hughes retorted "Mate, if you turn the bat over, you'll see the instructions on the back."

The Man with the fiery mustache, Merv Hughes
A Fiery Character

• Javed Miandad once told Big Merv he looked like a ticket collector on a bus... When Merv got him out he ran past him and shouted "Ding Ding, Tickets please".

I still burst out with laughter imagining the big man uttering those words!! Even the fielders must have had a hard time controlling their amusement. Surely Merv had a great sense of humor and coupled with the sharpness of the mind and a fiery tongue, it made for great viewing!!!

Now two involving Shane Warne! Another Aussie! Man, these Aussie's are taking all the pedestals as far as sledging is concerned!!

• Australia enjoyed some great rivalry with the South Africans and once as the South African batsman Daryll Cullinan was on his way to the wicket, Warne told him that he had been waiting two years for another chance to humiliate him. The South African batsman's response? "Looks like you spent it eating"

The Bad boy of Australian cricket,
never shy of having a chat with the batsman - Shane Warne
A Fiery Bloke

• As Warne was trying to tempt portly Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Ranatunga out of his crease, Ian Healy suggested "Putting a Mars Bar on a good length". Apparently Ranatunga's response was even better. David Boon (another portly Aussie player) was fielding at short leg, so Ranatunga quipped that Boony would get to the Mars Bar first!

Definitely the second incident must have drawn laughs from everyone! Its a great example of the sharpness of mind and a fiery tongue! If Warne was sharp and fiery then Ranatunga proved to be sharper and fierier!!!

I will reserve my last incident for the man who not only batted in the most fierce manner but had a great sense of humor. One of the best players to have ever played the game, West Indian batsman Viv Richards. It is said that no bowler dared to sledge him as he punished them hard for their misdemeanor!! But bowlers being bowlers, sometimes could not control themselves and paid the price!!

Bowlers never dared to sledge Sir Vivian Richards,
when they did... they were thrashed!!
A Fiery Maaan

• In a county game against Glamorgan, Greg Thomas attempted to sledge Vivian Richards after he had played and missed at several balls in a row. He informed 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!!!"

So sledging definitely has its own charm in the sport of cricket and without it the sport would miss something! Definitely the players should not cross the line and hurl abuses towards the opposing players family... But light hearted banter is always welcome!! Humor may be used to just as good effect as abuse for the point of unsettling batsmen!

Reading all these stories of cricket matches of the years gone by is to be reminded over and over again, that cricket matches have always featured chatter in the middle, that grown men, when thrown into close competitive proximity will often find ways to express a variety of emotions... Aided by a fiery tongue and a sharp mind, we get some of "THE MOMENTS" in sports...

PS - Images courtesy -- 1st, 3rd, 4th espncricinfo.com, 2nd foxsports.com.au

PPS - This was my entry to the contest on Indiblogger - Sets You On Fire

If You Like it then please Promote it Here - Sledging sets Cricket on Fire!!!