Well I’ll be. The ICC has moved with unheard of speed to fine Australian skipper Michael Clarke 20 per cent of his match fee for sledging England’s paceman James Anderson with his “f****** broken arm” quote.
Normally it takes cricket’s governing body forever to move on anything, unless there’s a stick of dynamite under their individual chairs.
But in less than 24 hours, Clarke had to fork out over $3,000, for bashing with a feather.
Having said that, the skipper wasn’t too smart to let fly within range of the stump microphone for all and sundry to hear it.
I always believe what happens in the middle stays in the middle in any sport. But I can understand there are a lot of mums who wouldn’t have appreciated Clarke’s outburst.
But sledging is here to stay, it’s been around since the late 1800s with the likes of the infamous Dr WG Grace – the first cricketing superstar who doubled up as a bully – throwing his massive frame around to great effect.
He sledged for all his record 44 seasons of first-class cricket, and he was still scoring runs and taking wickets at 60.
The only time sledging was outlawed was by Don Bradman, who loathed the practice, believing it was a form of cheating.
He told his troops they would get one warning, and if they repeated he would make sure they were never selected in the Test team again. A pretty strong deterrent.
It’s a strong bet the fiesty Bill O’Reilly disagreed with that Bradman edict, but then they disagreed on a whole range of topics.
I had a run-in with Bill at Adelaide Oval in the early 70s. There had been a bit of a blow-up with Ian Chappell sledging the day before, and he was one of the best.
O’Reilly shocked everyone in the press box before play started by saying sledging never happened in his day, and he didn’t know what the sport was coming to.
I was standing beside him and said, “Ace it up Bill, they didn’t call you Tiger and Snarler for nothing, you were no choir boy.”
At that point Alan McGilvray, Norman May, Lindsay Hassett and Keith Miller disappeared very quickly, they knew the signs of an O’Reilly blow-up.
“Listen you young whipper-snapper,” O’Reilly roared, “when I say there was no sledging in my day, there was no sledging, OK?”
We begged to differ, but Bill didn’t speak to me for the rest of the Test. Come Melbourne he was back to his pleasant best, as though nothing had happened.
Needless to say, I didn’t bring up the subject again, I had too much respect for the big bloke.
Did I believe in sledging? No I didn’t.
I had more than enough on my plate as captain of Mosman trying to get 10 of the opposition out to waste time trying to think of some smart remark.
But one obvious sledge possibility fell into my lap, and I grabbed it.
Graeme Hughes, the last to play for NSW in cricket and rugby league in the same year, made his first-grade cricket debut against us at Mosman Oval when he was 16.
This was in the early 70s.
He strutted to the centre full on confidence to join his father Noel, It was the only time in my 17 tears of first-grade I played against a father and son.
Noel was batting superbly, as he always did against us, even though he was well into his 40s.
But Graeme just couldn’t get the strike, and he was champing at the bit with impatience.
He called for a quick run, but Noel said no, and Graeme was run out by the length of the pitch for a duck, without facing a ball.
The steam was pouring out of his ears, he was fuming, and Dad obviously felt sorry for his son to get out that way without scoring.
I was walking past Noel and couldn’t resist saying,”Should be an interesting breakfast over the weet-bix tomorrow Noel”.
He gave me an instant gobful, now he was fuming. He played his first false stroke next ball and was out.
The gobful continued all the way to the shed, but he had quietened down over a beer after stumps.
Graeme hadn’t.
Look, I have no problems with anyone who sledges. My attitude to any sledging I copped was to do what Alastair Cook did to Mitchell Johnson at the Gabba – just turn the back.
Nothing gets a bowler more annoyed than having his sledging ignored. Generally they bowl crap when they are mad, and easy pickings make the bowler even more annoyed.
More crap, more runs.
Whatever the reasons, sledging is here to stay, and will be until the end of time.
One thing for sure, this Ashes series has taken on a new meaning with Australia’s 381-run flogging of England inside four days, and Michael Clarke’s outburst.
So let’s sit back and watch the action. There will be plenty of it.
J.T. Delacroix
Guest
Cricket fanatics from the relatively new school, love nothing more than to regale us all with examples of sledging, whether real or mythical. A great deal of it involves wisecracks about players' wives, girlfriends, or mothers. Most of it is churlish, witless, crap. But the yobbos laugh like hyaenas at the merest suggestion of it. God spare us!
Johnno
Guest
Yes David, exactly right, some tough physical battles, today's players have rib cage guards, and thigh guards, arm guards, highly padded gloves, they should take a journey back to the 60's and 70's, tough times on the cricket field, real leather and willow stuff.
Mike Caxton
Roar Rookie
Soccer mentality means that the English simply can't handle losing, so this is just the latest episode of plumbing the depths of bad sportsmanship by English sport teams and supporters. There's no depths that you won't go to. If England had won I'll bet my house that Trott would still be there.
ak
Roar Guru
Since the topic of sledging has been brought I would like to state that Harbhajan's alleged sledge in 2008 was a misunderstanding of sorts. For an Australian being called a monkey is racist whereas it is not so for an Indian. However the Indians said that Harbhajan actually used a customary Indian slang 'maaki'. Actually an Indian will get incensed if addresed as 'maaki' but not if called a monkey. Now there is not an exact translation for this but it is an abuse on mother. So actually he may not have said monkey but he did abuse.
Mike Caxton
Roar Rookie
Well, that's so much better. It was a brilliant excuse.
JimmyB
Guest
Ray, I take your point to a degree, but I think in reality you're unfairly slurring most working class people, who are far better behaved than Warner. Being from a working class background doesn't excuse being a graceless tool I'm afraid.
David Lord
Expert
That Sandy is the spot-on comment of the day.
David Lord
Expert
But Johnno, let me tell you they won the physical battle with the umpteen deep-seated bruises, especially from Thommo, over a few years.
JimmyB
Guest
Ads a, you're spectacularly missing the point, but I'm fairly sure that's nothing new for you as you appear to be a fairly witless dullard. The debate about sledging and Warner's performance have nothing to do with winning and losing. Australia deserved to win the test match, there is no debate, no quibble, no question about that. England were comprehensively outplayed. Also, I'm not suggesting for one moment that England don't generally give as good as they get, but if you don't see any issue with Clarke's behaviour or more pertinently Warner's behaviour then that is entirely your prerogative, but a good number of folks disagree with you, both English and Australians. Btw, before you get too carried away with us 'loser Poms', it might be sage to remember that this Australian victory, no matter how comprehensive, is the first in ten in test matches and only the third in the last four Ashes series.
Ray Charles
Guest
All of the people on here going on about the lack of class of the sledges etc. please!!! While I appreciate the Gideon Haigh's of this world, I don't believe that our cricketers need to be wordsmiths. Most of these guys are from working class backgrounds like from tough upbringings like Warner who grew up in housing commission estate and now is an elite sportsman. How about a bit of respect for who they have become and what they have made of themselves rather than putting them down all the time!
DubbleBubble
Guest
Actually somewhat envious to be honest. With my rather limited skills I'd have been lucky if I was allowed to cut up the oranges for Nar Nar Goon fifths!
Adsa
Guest
Jimmyb you like those precious loser Poms love to take the high moral ground when they lose, but can't accept that the same precious flowers give as good as they get and more when they win. I think the English cricket side have shown there true colour, if they don't get there way they blub like babies with a wet knappy. It's going to be a long hot summer for this tepid lot.
JimmyB
Guest
Mike, given some of your previous posts, you're not in a position to use the word class or classy in a sentence I'm afraid.
JimmyB
Guest
Casper, you're making yourself look very silly indeed with some of your comparisons there.
JimmyB
Guest
As long as you're convincing yourself Chris...
JimmyB
Guest
'one of the most vile sledgers around' Now who's being precious?
atgm
Guest
He said 'teri maa ki followed by expletive' teri=ur maa=mom 'Maa ki' sounds a bit like monkey
twodogs
Guest
On the sledging subject David, I wholly 'blame' (give full credit to!) Mitchell Johnson. His performance was not only superb but provided an energy to the team which has been sorely missed of late. This may well give impetus for a possible whitewash for even during the last series, there were a few cracks appearing in the poms lineup and appeared vulnerable in patches and I believe the oz team did not have enough energy at the time to exploit this. Sometimes though the crass sledging can have later consequences, not financially as in Clarkes case but just down the track when things may not be going your way. The best sledges are those funny quirky types which can stop a guy in his tracks, the ones which do not require anger or the use of foul tounge. As good a batsman Warner is at present, based on the evidence of his twitter outbursts, it would pay him to refrain from attempting a 'classy' sledge and remain silent.
Mike Caxton
Roar Rookie
Yeah. Calling Symonds a monkey was soooooooooo classy
Mickyt
Guest
Toss, When are you going to write a book. My life in sport and all the tales. Covering rugby, cricket, golf and tennis at a minimum it would be a great read.