What is sledging? Many people see it differently. Former Australia captain Steve Waugh once said sledging was just “mental disintegration”, but where does sledging cross the line into abuse, blatant insults and personal attacks on players?

Sledging is a verbal joust between bowlers and fielders against the batsman and vice versa, although the fielding side at the time heavily outnumbers the batsmen so it is usual practice for the batsman to stay silent and give back minimal chirp whilst he is trying to score runs. The aim of sledging is to get into the mind of the opposing players and attempt to distract them and break their concentration. Sledging was originally an innocent thing, i.e. a fielder commenting on the batsman playing and missing a lot of times, but with the increase in media surrounding the sport players using the personal information the media talk about as a sledging technique is becoming all too common.

Players caught sledging over the years have had their cards marked as persistent offenders, none more so than former Aussie pace bowler Merv Hughes. Merv had a reputation as a quick bowler who would get up in batsmen’s grill after whizzing a ball past their nose. Merv used sledging as an intimidation tactic rather than a concentration breaker, but that was his character on the field. Some people thought that this was unnecessary and that Merv was out of line hurling abuse at batsmen, but at the same time, other fast bowlers saw this and felt that it could be used to their advantage also. This helped people to believe in the persona of a fast bowlers being mean and ruthless with and without the ball in their hand.

Fast forward to December 2013 and England are playing Australia in the Ashes down under. The Ashes are known for the hostile and fiery atmosphere that the away team have to play under, and this series was no different for England. On day 5 of the first Test at the Gabba, England were reeling and staring defeat in the face. A reignited Mitchell Johnson was steaming in at express pace and had already taken wickets in the match. James Anderson had been having words with George Bailey at short leg already when Michael Clarke had overheard the exchange and stated that Anderson should “get ready for broken f*****g arm”. Unfortunately for the Aussie skipper, the Channel 9 stump microphone picked up on this and he was fined 20% of his match fees.

Sledging isn’t always verbal and sometimes tempers boil over into physical reactions. Although most players are very controlled and won’t let the anger boiling inside show to whoever is sledging them, inevitably there are incidents where players see red and can’t help but react in a violent way. In the 2014 IPL, Mitchell Starc was playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore against Mumbai Indians. Kieron Pollard was the batsman for MI and after receiving a short ball from Starc, as well as a few choice words, he gestured Starc away. The next ball Pollard pulled away from his stance, claiming to have seen movement behind the bowler’s arm. Starc saw this as gamesmanship and proceeded to throw the ball in Pollard’s direction. Pollard was infuriated and threw his bat back in retaliation. This was a dark scene for the organisers of the IPL and it was decided that both men would be fined, 75% for Pollard and 50% for Starc, of their match fees.

Sledging doesn’t always have to be intimidating or shown in verbal confrontation, sometimes comical gestures are the way to get into the opposing player’s head. In the recent Grenada Test match between West Indies and England, Marlon Samuels and Ben Stokes both went head to head in what was seen as one of the funniest bit of sledging to date. Stokes tried to sledge Samuels when he was nearing his hundred, but this seemed to work in Samuels favour, as he managed to dig in and make three figures. Come the second innings, Stokes had just hauled out in the deep in the aid of making quick runs, but as he went to walk back to the pavilion he passed Marlon Samuels who stood still in a sarcastic salute. Many feel that was a brilliant move by Samuels and was much better than if he had got up in Stokes’ face and given him a whole bunch of grief. This also highlighted the good side of sledging as Samuels showed us his grit and determination when making that hundred in the first innings.

This comical act by Samuels was good for him as he ‘one-upped’ Stokes at the time, but also because he couldn’t be fined by the match referee has he didn’t show any unsporting behaviour. Pundits claim that the game has no place for sledging that goes too far and I agree with that, but if the ICC are happy to only fine players a fraction of their earnings then they’ll be prepared to do it time after time and that is why we are seeing sledging go further more often than it used to. If the ICC were to ban players for doing it, then team coaches and captains would have to intervene and stop it from happening, rather than just the umpires.

Sledging has been around for as long as the game and happens in all sports, not just cricket. It is highly unlikely that sledging will ever leave the game, but I feel there do need to be stricter guidelines and punishments for those who choose to break them, such as suspensions.