No Sledging, Warns CA; But England Have Their Own Take

The Australians are in for a makeover, so are the aspirations of Cricket Australia.
The Australians have suffered a negative image in recent times, not primarily because of the racist attacks on Indians in Australia but also, in the field of sport. Their sledging, that began primarily with hard core captains such as Ian Chappell and Steve Waugh in his infamous “mental disintegration”, has not accorded the Australians the respect that they would have normally commanded as champions in the sport.
However, in a bid to avoid fiasco such as the one that broke out between Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh in the infamous Sydney gate, CA has warned all Australian cricketers that they must maintain their image as sportsmen and therefore, not indulge in sledging. Call it an image clean up but the attempt is clearly to bring the sportsman’s spirit back to the game and who better to set an example than the champions? Already teams usually known to be gentlemen on the field have shown they have picked up the game of words from the Australians with some effect.
It will be tough though to draw the line on what constitutes friendly banter and what is a serious offence like sledging because of the ambiguity. The Australians will find it hard to keep their tongue in cheek given that they are used to wagging it even when there is no business of theirs to be concerned about.
But Paul Collingwood, who recently captained England in the ICC World Twenty20, also agrees that the Australians are born and brought up on sledging and therefore, will find it hard to follow the rules as they now stand. With the ICC keen on clamping down on sledging as well, the Australians will have to seriously change their image from boorish champions to clean cut winners.
Recently Ravi Bopara received off the field sledging with Shane Warne branding him as being more image conscious than actually being talented. To which, Bopara stated that he was only concerned about his game, and it has grown in recent months, and stated that the Australians would only be “wasting their breath”.
Former England captain and now valuable player in this England line up for the forthcoming Ashes, Kevin Pietersen had a different view on the issue of sledging. KP was taken aback by how badly he was received by the crowds as well as players in South Africa when he wore the England emblem. The Australians tried to get under his skin too. But Kevin states that all it did was fire him up even more and only more determined to do well to out beat them all.
While a harmless word or cheeky phrase normally provides relief amongst players from opposing teams, the recent scenarios where Symonds and Harbhajan’s story involved the likes of Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden in an on field verbal scuffle and of the time when Ramnaresh Sarwan and Glen McGrath nearly came to blows in the famous Test in Antigua, perhaps talking with the bat (or ball) would be the more appropriate thing to do.