There’s been talk recently that the ICC is mulling over whether to ban sledging altogether. Sledging, for those of you who don’t know, is the fine art of hurling verbal abuses at your opponents (that would just become bleep-bleep-bleep on TV) so as to distract them. The Australians are credited with having invented this art, and are widely acknoledged of being the masters of it.

All this changed earlier this year when India toured Australia. The Australians didn’t count on the young Indian players, who had ditched the polite “gentleman’s game” demeanour and took to cricket with full furore. The result was the the Australians got a taste of their own medicine, and allegations flying of abuse of all kinds, until Symonds went off the complain to the ICC like a cry baby.

And so we find ourselves faced with this question - Is sledging harmful for the game? I think its a trick question. Banning any display of frustration from the players part is simply impossible. Can you imagine a match where the bowling side, when appealing for an LBW, instead of the usual “OOoohhhowwiIZZZZZZAAaaaAAARrrrrrrrtttttaaAAAAAAAAAAA?” says :

Bowler: “Kind Umpire Sir, would you, please, be so kind as to inform me if you can please, whether the honorable batsman can be declared as Out, please?”
Umpire: “Sure, sir! Would you like to discuss this over tea?”

Its ridiculous. I say the ICC should go the other way. Lift all restrictions, and adopt a “anything goes” policy. I don’t know why everyone thinks cricket is a civilized game, because its not. Players today are super aggressive and some of their passion spills over as rich verbal exchanges, and that’s an integral part of the game. Sledging is well recognized as a mind game - Trying to mess with your opponents thinking, introducing a emotional angle to distort thinking. And if you’re not clearly thinking, you’re going down! Lets just acknowledge that Cricket has changed, and allow these physiological games as well - It makes cricket that much more like a soap opera and that much more interesting.

Besides, how the hell are they going to ban sledging anyway. If you ban specific words in English, then the Indian players will be more than happy to use Hindi, and then the ICC will have to hire translators for every match, and the players will still find a way around it:

Player 1: “Hey! You look like a certain pre-historic version of man that still roams the jungles and rhymes with ‘ronkey’”
Player 2: “Why don’t you perform certain acts of barbaric recreation like the lower level life forms do during mating season?”

I say “Celebrate Sledging”!