Sehwag likely to be the next test captain

[benchmark00]

Always lol at the people who have a problem with sledging.

 

[Ausage]

Abusive or non-abusive, the purpose of sledging is to cause a wicket in a non-cricketing way - unlike send-offs.

A send-off can't change the result of the game in any way (unless a batsman is affected in the 2nd innings by the send-off he got in the 1st, or something like that), but the purpose of sledging is just that...

Maybe there's a reason the word 'sledging' came from sledge-hammer.

So much of cricket (or indeed any sport) is played in the mind, what gives anyone the right to determine that anything said by either team falls outside "the game"? I don't think sledging is a nice thing to do, but sport isn't a contest between cardboard cutouts. It's a contest between people. Talking, listening and reacting is part of being human.

If you're only good enough to perform when people are being nice to you you haven't been truly tested.

 

[weldone]

If you're only good enough to perform when people are being nice to you you haven't been truly tested.

There are two different things which are being confused here:

1. If you think those who can handle sledging better (Tendulkar) than others (Vaughan) have an added quality - I completely agree with you.

2. If you think that makes sledging acceptable, I don't.

It's like saying that a guy is more macho if he can deal with dacoits (which is true), and therefore dacoity is fine. No. There is no cause-and-effect relation between the two.

 

[Ausage]

There are two different things which are being confused here:

I don't think there is. Your opinion is that sledging is wrong and I'm not arguing that. I actually agree with you personally and don't engage in it when I play sport. What I was arguing was the suggestion that it's wrong because it's not part of the game. As cricket is played by people, their motivation and mental condition is as much a part of the contest as the weather or the pitch. It's a factor that can be controlled, it can be planned for and tactics against it can be developed. Simply saying it's not part of the game is a cop out because it pretty clearly is.

Short of banning all verbal discussion on the pitch it's not something that could ever be controlled either. Even enforcing on defined lines is near impossible (as monkeygate showed us).

 

[Shri]

Slightly OT, but why has sledging suddenly become synonymous with abuse nowadays? By far the best and most incisive sledges I heard when I was playing cricket were non-abusive.

Yeah some of the best sledges I have seen on field have been non-abusive as well. The MJ-Anderson one in the chirping incident and the like. You should be prepared to take it back if you do it in an abusive manner though. The Mcgrath-Sarwan incident made McG seem like a massive douche for example.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Yeah some of the best sledges I have seen on field have been non-abusive as well. The MJ-Anderson one in the chirping incident and the like. You should be prepared to take it back if you do it in an abusive manner though. The Mcgrath-Sarwan incident made McG seem like a massive douche for example.

Totally

 

[benchmark00]

I think they both came off looking pretty ordinary imo.

 

[Shri]

Heh Sarwan's reply was pretty much the default comeback for a question like that.

 

[Black_Warrior]

I think they both came off looking pretty ordinary imo.

Ok here is the thing with sledging...some people might keep quiet..but you have to be able to handle it if someone responds with an equally cheap comment. You can't complain to the teacher then. You can't expect that you will make all the cheap comments and the other person will just sit and listen quietly.

 

[benchmark00]

Heh Sarwan's reply was pretty much the default comeback for a question like that.

Probs, but it's always a bit sketchy when you bring family members into the argument, even though I'm sure Sarwan wasn't aware/conscious of the fact that McGrath's wife was battling what turned out to be terminal cancer.

 

[benchmark00]

Ok here is the thing with sledging...some people might keep quiet..but you have to be able to handle it if someone responds with an equally cheap comment. You can't complain to the teacher then. You can't expect that you will make all the cheap comments and the other person will just sit and listen quietly.

Mate, I couldn't give a flying **** about sledging. I think it has a place in the game.

However, I'm always of the opinion that family members aren't to be brought into the 'discussion' because they can't defend themselves out there.

McGrath's original comment was **** and lacked imagination and intelligence.

Sarwan's was pretty low as it brought in a family member.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Mate, I couldn't give a flying **** about sledging. I think it has a place in the game.

However, I'm always of the opinion that family members aren't to be brought into the 'discussion' because they can't defend themselves out there.

McGrath's original comment was **** and lacked imagination and intelligence.

Sarwan's was pretty low as it brought in a family member.

I agree with you..family members should not be brought into the discussion. I personally would not do it and would not want a player to do it. I want them to limit it to cricketing skills. However..where are you going to draw the line.. Is it possible to police it once you allow sledging?
I think sledging should be allowed, at the same time I acknowledge that there is no way to police it.. So you just have to deal with it because there will be people who will stoop to that level..

 

[benchmark00]

I agree with you..family members should not be brought into the discussion. I personally would not do it and would not want a player to do it. I want them to limit it to cricketing skills. However..where are you going to draw the line.. Is it possible to police it once you allow sledging?
I think sledging should be allowed, at the same time I acknowledge that there is no way to police it.. So you just have to deal with it because there will be people who will stoop to that level..

Well we police racism don't we?

Personally I don't care if someone targets my family on the field (I'll concede I might be in the minority here), I just think it makes them look like a douche, just like an unintelligent comment makes someone look like a douchebag.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Well we police racism don't we?

Yeah we police racism by not allowing racism..at least officially..

Here we are allowing sledging..

 

[BoyBrumby]

I think there's a cultural difference at play here. It brought to mind Mukul Kesavan's blog spot from almost exactly four years ago when he deliniated the difference between subcontinental "shrill petulance" (jack-in-box appeals, visible disappointment) & Anglo "manly truculence" (obscenity, lewdness and intimidation).

His opinion is that umpires are more likely to sanction the latter because it's directed at players rather than the officials.

 

[benchmark00]

Yeah we police racism by not allowing racism..at least officially..

Here we are allowing sledging..

Yes but what's the difference between someone using a racist term as a sledge and someone using a family oriented term as a sledge?

In AFL a guy got suspended and fined for sledging another player about his mother.

I have no problem a player reporting something to the umpire if he feels the sledge has gone too far. I don't consider general swearing as going too far, it's pretty dumb though.

 

[Daemon]

This isn't the sledging thread ****s

 

[benchmark00]

This isn't the sledging thread ****s

It's whatever thread I want it to be ****.

 

[Shri]

Hero.

 

[Riggins]

Really? Any source for that?

Is it really true that if Tendulkar tells the bowlers something then they have to do it despite the bowling coach saying something different?

I can't see any way that would be true.

Err no printed source, just heard it through the new Indian bowling coach, from where he was talking to the guy he's replacing about what's in store.