2013/21: Is sledging damaging cricket?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right:the series of incidents late in the first Australian Ashes Test of 2013. A stump microphone picked up Michael Clarke's remarks to an English batsman. If you cannot see this clip, it will be because video is blocked by your network. To view the clip, access from home or from a public library, or from another network which allows viewing of video clips.
What they said...
'Sledging is a clear example of inter-player maltreatment in sport that can pose a significant threat to the well-being of the individual'
Keith D. Parry, a lecturer in Sport Management and Emma Kavanagh, a lecturer in Sports Psychology and Coaching Sciences
'On the pitch, it's pretty much a war, isn't it? There are always going to be a few words, and I think that's pretty much how people want to watch cricket being played'
The captain of the English team, Alastair Cook
The issue at a glance
On November 25, 2013, the captain of the Australian cricket team, Michael Clarke, was fined 20 percent of his match fee after having been detected sledging during the final day of the first Ashes Test.
The stump microphone picked up Clarke threatening English bowler and lower order batsman James Anderson with 'Get ready for a broken f***ing arm.
Two days before Australian batsman, David Warner, had said of English batsman Jonathan Trott that he was 'pretty weak'. Trott later withdrew from the Ashes competition and return to England after it was revealed that he was suffering from a stress-related disorder.
Though there is no suggestion that Warner's comment caused Trott's condition the two episodes have lead to renewed debate that about the extent of sledging in cricket, the harm it causes and whether stronger action should be taken against it.