SYDNEY, Australia — When young men loiter on street corners or in shopping malls throwing out insults or physically intimidating passers-by, we condemn their behavior as antisocial. When Australia’s top athletes do the same, we celebrate their “wit” and “spirit.”

Sporting prowess is the highest form of status for young men and boys in Australia, as it is in many other places. And in Australian sport there is no pinnacle higher than the national cricket team, which has won four of the last five world cups.

For a cricketing superpower, Australians have a poor on-field reputation. Mutually respectful competition has been replaced by ugly belligerence. Derogatory, threatening or racist remarks are not only a routine part of the Australian game, they have become a form of psychological warfare used to establish dominance over opponents.

The practice is called “sledging,” apparently drawn from the phrase, “as subtle as a sledgehammer.”

Many Australians are perversely proud of their reputation as the sledging kings of the cricket world. Books celebrate the practice, including “The Art of Sledging” and “Why Are You So Fat? The Book of Cricket’s Best Ever Sledges.” There is a website, Cricket Sledges, whose slogan is “The Best Sledging Cricket Has to Offer.”