Sledging, is it part of cricket?

[Will_NA]

Is sledging acceptable? Only if it's funny and related to cricker. For example, Malcolm Marshall's quote in the first post.

But if it's incessant chatter, e.g.

'Ooh, he missed that one...not playing very well, are you?...another one...', then they might as well shut up.

 

[smssia0112]

It reminds me of the time that the Aussie team were accused of making train noises when Chris Cairns came out to bat, not long after his sister had been killed in a train crash. It was claimed that Gilly started it, and not only did he deny it and threaten legal action against the journalist who fabricated it, but Cairns also called it rubbish.

For example, McGrath allegedly imitated the noise of a train ("choo choo") to a Kiwi batsman whose sister died in a train crash.

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[slade]

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Note I used allegedly and I was making the point that there are things that are aren't racist but still very offensive to people, and its impossible to know unless you know them, whether a personal comment crosses the line or not.

 

[Skater]

I would say light hearted sledging is acceptable, but there is a fine line between that and offensive personal insults. Most of the time sledging doesn't bring about a wicket anyway.

Andrew Flintoff and Tino Best is a good example of what I mean. There were no slurs in Flintoff's comments, yet Best was out soon after.

 

[King Cricket]

Sledging injects some extra spice to the game. This makes the game more interesting and funny. But SLEDGING and PERSONAL INSULTS are different things.