There is no place for ‘sledging’ in the gentleman’s game of cricket. Dress it up into any justifiable form you like, it is still abuse, bullying and utterly unsportsmanlike.
Players are privileged enough to have the talent, coaching, skills and opportunity to be in the position others can only dream of, yet so often we see a pack mentality, where verbal abuse and intimidation is used to undermine, distract, create anxiety, diffidence and lower the confidence of opposition players.
Who would want a young person to follow in the footsteps of the player who is seen to be so anti-sportingly aggressive toward players that the lad considers this to be the norm to all people in life? The kid grows up believing that it is right and normal to behave like this, under some pretext that it is an outpouring of enthusiasm and competiveness. Bollocks!
What dad does, the kid also does in life and having grown up believing in this misguided “competitiveness,” often does not differentiate as to whom he does it to throughout his life!
And whatever happened to the game of cricket where out-skilling your opponent with sheer class and having that class and skill be the item judged? Instead, we have this over aggressive pack mentality that does not bring respect from those who view it with a clear head but disrespect for the game and its verbal abusive participants.
To say that it is acceptable and “part of the game” is simply condoning the attitude that it’s all right to act in this manner, after all, our hero’s do. It invites provocation, begets ill-will and then retaliation which eventually leads to conflict and very bad answerable outcomes.
It is unjustifiable no matter how you dress it up and it must cease, so that winning by any means, becomes winning by being the best in everything. Great thought, actions, word and deeds win the accolades and respect by all for a long time, not just the moment where the euphoria is only short lived.
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