England and Australia are getting used to angry verbal exchanges on the field, but beyond the boundary rope yesterday fast bowler James Anderson and wicketkeeper Brad Haddin both argued against drastic measures to curb sledging ahead of their tri-series encounter today.
Neither player is known as shy and retiring, and they sought to play down the growing concerns over on-field conduct. Relations between India and Australia have been particularly strained of late, with repeat offender David Warner fined 50 per cent of his match fee for his part in an altercation with Rohit Sharma last weekend, during which he told the Indian to "speak English".
New Zealand great Martin Crowe has proposed a football-style system of yellow and red cards, while the BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew upbraided the Australians for failing to uphold higher standards following Phillip Hughes' tragic death.
England batsman Joe Root, who was punched in a nightclub by Warner before the 2013 summer Ashes, gave tentative backing to Crowe's suggestion this week. But Anderson, who clashed with Australia's captain, Michael Clarke, during the last Ashes series, suggested that standards had not deteriorated appreciably.
"I don't think at the moment there is any more sledging than there's been in the history of cricket - it's something that's gone on for years and years," the England paceman said.
