Cricket is not just a game requiring skills at batting, bowling and fielding. This sport also tests your intellect, your cool and your wit. Sledging is as much a part of the game as any other discipline and it can be an effective way to attack the opposition.
The fielding team use sledges to put batsmen off their game and to try and shift their focus from the ball to the jibes and insults that are raining in. Some are fairly banal but there have been some great sledges throughout the years on various international cricket tours, and equally good retorts from batsmen. Here are 5 of the best sledges of all time:
1) Mark Waugh vs James Ormond
When little-known English batsman James Ormond reached the crease in a 2001 test match Mark Waugh said:
“Mate, what are you doing out here? There’s no way you’re good enough to play for England.”
Ormond replied, “Maybe not, but at least I’m the best player in my family.”
2) Shane Warne vs Daryll Cullinan
Getting ready to bowl to Cullinan, Aussie spinner Warne said he’d been waiting for two years to humiliate him again. Cullinan replied, “Looks like you spent it eating.”
3) Ian Healy vs Michael Atherton
After a big appeal for caught behind Autralian wicket keeper Ian Healey called Atherton a cheat. The English skipper was quick as a flash with his retort: “When in Rome, dear boy.”
4) Malcolm Marshall vs David Boon
West Indies fast bowler Malcolm Marshall got straight to the point with Aussie bastman David Boon: “Now David are you going to get out now or am I going to have to bowl around the wicket and kill you?”
5) Merv Hughes vs Robin Smith
After Merv had accused Robin Smith of not being able to bat, Smith hit him for a crashing four, and said, “Hey Merv, we make a fine pair. I can’t bat and you can’t bowl.”
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