Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara is renowned as a cerebral sledging exception. He has talked about the act as "a measured comment designed to get a reaction out of a player. It could be any reaction: a bit of anger, a show of arrogance, a comment, a shake of the head, or a slump of the shoulders. They could be saying something as simple as: 'Let's leave a big gap there because he can't score through there.' Even if you are mentally strong and understand they are baiting you, it can still work in the mind."
In contrast to Sangakkara's insight, there's nothing clever about questioning race, sexuality, parentage, marital fidelity or, in Clarke's case suggesting a path of violence, telling James Anderson "get ready for a broken f****** arm" to get a wicket. To be fair, Anderson and a number of cohorts are hardly innocents.
It might be time to achieve perspective and mute the timeless cliches about "sharing a laugh over a beer afterwards" or "it's about fighting in the heat of battle for your country"; they shamelessly paper over the spite. .
A subsequent embarrassing incident to Clarke vs Anderson was the failed attempt to create a summit meeting between coaches Darren 'Boof' Lehmann and Andy Flower to discuss an impasse. Even if they had, the idea of supposedly grown men needing slightly older grown men to work on their behalf engendering peace is farcical.
If only the players' emotional intelligence matched their egos. There are exceptions: England's Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and Graeme Swann have appeared to play the game with a competitive but well-meaning spirit.
Otherwise it's a series of works-in-progress. That's why the tone of Clarke's leadership becomes so important. At the moment he looks like a wolf in pup's clothing.
Cricket ponders why it has one of the worst mental health records of any sport but incidents like these sledging bombs don't help. Jonathan Trott is returning home with a stress-related illness.
The parlous state of affairs extends to David Frith's book, By His Own Hand, on cricketing suicides. Sledging can't be directly linked to suicide but a case could be made for it as a compounding factor with the regular barrage of testosterone-soaked rants and one-upmanship among alpha males.
By all means, plant the seed of failure in a player's mind by suggesting weaknesses in technique or intimidate through exceptional batting, bowling or fielding. Mind you, sledging has become buried in cricket's accepted norms, particularly in the Ashes, whether it's Clarke and Anderson, Ian Botham and Ian Chappell or Douglas Jardine and Bill Woodfull. Don't expect change soon.
