Sledging

Sledging...

"In cricket, sledging (or chirping) is exchanging words with an opposition player which can put them off their usual game; it is an attempt to "psych out" an opponent. It can lead to an unexpected decline in performance and is not in the spirit of the game."

Cairns Fudge Cricket Club dont really do Sledging (apart from the Fudge Cup where it is an essential part of the day). It is rife in top class cricket though and it can often be very funny. Below is a selection of some of the best examples of sledging during the game's long and illustrious history.

Enjoy!

Australian wicket-keeper Rod Marsh, to English batsman Ian Botham: "So how's your wife and my kids?"
Australian Merv Hughes to Englishman Robin Smith: "Does your husband play cricket as well?"
Another incident involving Merv Hughes and Robin Smith. During a 1989 Lord's test Hughes said to Smith after Smith played and missed, "You can't f***ing bat." Smith's reply after he hit Hughes for a boundary the next ball, "Hey Merv, we make a fine pair. I can't fucking bat and you can't fucking bowl."
1990 - Javed Miandad called Merv Hughes a fat bus conductor. Merv dismissed Miandad shortly afterwards, and called out "Tickets Please".
Mark Waugh to Jimmy Ormond coming out to bat in an Ashes match: “Mate, what are you doing out here, there’s no way you’re good enough to play for England.” Ormond: “Maybe not, but at least I'm the best player in my family.”
Glenn McGrath to Zimbabwean Eddo Brandes after Brandes had played and missed at a McGrath delivery: "Oi, Brandes, why are you so fucking fat?" to which Brandes replied: "Cos every time I fuck your wife she gives me a biscuit!" Apparently even the Australian slips were in hysterics.
Shane Warne (Australia) to Daryll Cullinan (South Africa): "I've been waiting two years to humiliate you again." Cullinan: "Looks like you spent the time eating."
Greg Thomas, a Glamorgan fast bowler, thundered in and beat Vivian Richards's bat. "It's red and it's round. Can't you see it?" the bowler taunted. The next ball was precisely the same; pitching three quarters of length on middle and off, seaming away, and once again Richards was comprehensively beaten. "It's red and it's round and it weighs four-and-a-half ounces. Can't you see it?", Greg Thomas quipped. The next delivery was right in the slot, and Viv smashed the ball out of the ground and straight into the river that flowed around it. The batsman then said to the bowler: "You know what it looks like... go get it!"
In the 1996 Cricket World Cup quarter-final encounter between Indian cricket team and Pakistani cricket team, Pakistani batsman Aamer Sohail hit Venkatesh Prasad through a vacant area of the field for four runs. Sohail pointed at Prasad, and then to the vacant area, as if to tell Prasad that since there were no fielders there, he (Prasad) should retrieve the ball himself. The next delivery, Prasad bowled Sohail. As Sohail left the pitch, Prasad pointed him to the pavilion.
Aamer Sohail was also involved in another famous incident. In the 1980's Ian Botham returned early from a tour of Pakistan, and on radio joked "Pakistan is the sort of country to send your mother in-law to." Needless to say the Pakistanis did not find this amusing, and when Pakistan defeated England in the 1992 World Cup Final, Aamer Sohail told Ian Botham "Why don't you send your mother-in-law out to play, she cannot do much worse."
There have also been instances of teammates sledging each other. One very famous incident involved Frank Tyson and Raman Subba Rao. England were playing Pakistan and, at what turned out to be a crucial moment later on, Frank Tyson managed to get an outside edge off a Pakistani batsman after the batsman had been frustrating them on a hot sweaty day. The ball went right through the hands of Raman Subba Rao who was standing in first slip and through his legs. After the over Raman heads over to the bowler and says, "Sorry Frank, I should've closed my legs." Frank Tyson, who didn't find any of this amusing, quipped back, "No, you bastard, your mother should have."
Gavaskar had decided to relinquish his opening position and come in at no 4 for that test. But, Malcolm Marshall fired out Anshuman Gaekwad and Dilip Vengsarkar for ducks, setting the stage for Gavaskar to walk in at 0/2. And he thought there would be less pressure! Viv Richards says "Man, it don't matter where you come in to bat, the score is still zero."
New Zealand vs South Africa: Daryll Cullinan was batting, attempting a comeback from a complete bamboozling from Warne in earlier games. Cullinan played the first ball from Chris Harris very carefully back down the pitch, and keeper Parore yelled out "Well bowled Warnie!"
"Bomber" Wells, a spin bowler and great character, played for Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire. He used to bat at No.11 since one couldn't bat any lower. Of him, they used to paraphrase Compton's famous words describing an equally inept runner, "When he shouts 'YES' for a run, it is merely the basis for further negotiations!" Incidentally, Compton was no better. John Warr said, of Compton "He was the only person who would call you for a run and wish you luck at the same time." Anyway, when Wells played for Gloucs, he had an equally horrendous runner as the No.10. During a county match, horror of horrors.......both got injured. Both opted for runners when it was their turn to bat. Bomber played a ball on the off, called for a run, forgot he had a runner and ran himself. Ditto at the other end. In the melee, someone decided that a second run was on. Now we had *all four* running. Due to the confusion and constant shouts of "YES" "NO", eventually, "all" of them ran to the same end. At this point in time, the entire ground is rolling on the floor laughing their behinds out. One of the fielders - brave lad - stops laughing for a minute, picks the ball and throws down the wicket at the other end. Umpire Alec Skelding looks very seriously at the four and calmly informs them "One of you buggers is out. I don't know which. You decide and inform the bloody scorers!". (Incident described in "From the Pavilion End" by Harold "Dickie" Bird)
During the 1997 Ashes series, the English team decided not to sledge Steve Waugh as he revelled in a hostile atmosphere and sledging merely fuelled his adrenalin. Waugh arrived at the crease and soon realised this: 'OK, you're not talking to me are you? Well, I'll talk to myself then'. And he did, for 240 minutes in the first innings, and 382 minutes in the second.

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