TEST great Mike Hussey has called on Matt Prior to put up or shut up after the former England keeper made unsubstantiated allegations that Australian sledging has crossed the line.

Prior intimated that the Australians had got “personal” with their verbal abuse, but refused to provide details to back up his claims.

The outspoken former international accused Steve Smith of lying in a press conference when the Australian skipper was asked if he felt any sledging had been below the belt.

Hussey said Prior’s “provocative” comments had no credibility if he wasn’t willing to back them up with evidence.

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“I’m not really sure what he’s trying to achieve out of all these provocative comments,” Hussey told Fox Sports News.

“If he’s going to make these sort of comments — from afar mind you — you need to be really backing it up. He’s sort of teasing us really.

“You need to back it up with some hard evidence and some actual things that are being involved here. I’d be very surprised if he’s accurate here. The lines are very clear on the field.

“The umpires are very strict these days on things. There’s stump miss, there’s cameras everywhere, players don’t get away with too much.

“If the players are crossing the line on the field they will be reprimanded very, very quickly, so I’m pretty surprised by these comments and I’m not sure what he’s trying to get out of it really.”

Prior said the only way to get under the skin of Test players is to get “personal” and he has suggested that’s exactly what Australia have done this series.

Smith was asked directly in a press conference before the Adelaide Test, if Australia had crossed the line in Brisbane.

The Australian captain emphatically dismissed the suggestion. Prior — all the way over in the UK — thinks he wasn’t telling the truth.

“A lot that’s gone on that I think the England players are quite upset about — and rightfully from what I’ve heard,” Prior told a BBC podcast.

“There’s been a lot of chat on the pitch that hasn’t got anything to do with cricket and quite frankly shouldn’t be on a cricket pitch.

“(It’s) stuff that hasn’t come out for various reasons. I think that it has (got under the skin of England players).

“The question was asked of Steve Smith a number of times in a press conference: ‘Did the Australian players cross that line? Did they go too far?’

“And after he said ‘I 100 per cent, I swear on my life, they did not cross that line’, I think he was dragged out of that press conference pretty quickly because there are things that are going on.”