Editorial: Good sports can beat the cruel sledgers

Bad sport: David Warner clashes with Rohit Sharma. Photo / Wayne Ludbey / Herald Sun

Opinion

Sport gives an insight to the character of individuals and nations. The behaviour people applaud or tolerate in their representatives says a lot about them. Doubtless many Australians deplore the "sledging" coming from their cricket team - but not enough to do much about it.

Sledging, the verbal abuse of an opponent, probably occurs in most sports. Americans call it "trash talk", which more accurately reflects the usual quality of character and wit that produces it. But in cricket it seems particularly cruel. The batting crease is a lonely place. The batter is surrounded by opponents, his only teammate in play is 20m away, watching as the ball is hurled from the same distance. The rest of his team is out of earshot, not huddled like baseballers in a dugout close enough to give as good as their batter gets.

Cricket also requires intense concentration at the crease. A momentary lapse is enough to end the batter's day. Distracting personal comments at such close proximity can add greatly to the pressure and cricketers will disagree on how far "verbals" should be accepted as part of the game. One of New Zealand's greatest batsmen, Martin Crowe, believes sledging in Australian matches has gone too far.

Against England not long ago and now India, the verbal exchanges have gone well beyond the usual competitive spirit, and have lost any amusing quality they might once have had. Sledging between certain players appears to have become an ongoing feud. It is ugly, nasty and above all, tiresome. Crowe is concerned that it could come to blows on the field, possibly during the upcoming World Cup to be co-hosted by New Zealand.

He suggests umpires be empowered to send offending players from the field for a period, rather like the "yellow card" system in rugby. Another former player, John Morrison, agrees. "The punishment should be a suspension," he says, "not fining them, that's a waste of time."

A rule against sledging would be hard to write. Not all verbal exchanges between opposing players could or should be forbidden. Good-natured banter is inevitable between players who know each other and sometimes play together in other leagues. And not all sledging passes between opposing players. Most of it is comments about a batsmen exchanged by nearby fieldsmen. At what point do critical observations shared by members of the fielding side become "sledging"?

It would be up to umpires to decide, and inevitably there would be occasions when players would be sent from the field, possibly even suspended for subsequent matches, for utterances others might find mild. There would also be a problem with multiple culprits. If more than one or two of the fielding side are sent from the field, the match could become a farce. That impossibility of punishing more than one or two players might prompt teammates to offend to protect an offender. A rule might produce more sledging not less.

The better solution lies in an appeal to sportsmanship. When sledging crosses the bounds of sporting decency it should be met with contempt. As with all insults, ignore the sledging and it fails.