Cricket may seem like one of the most pleasant and polite sports the world has to offer but once you get down to the crease and listen to what the players say to each other, you’ll realise it most certainly isn’t.
They call it sledging. It’s when a wicketkeeper gives a load of shit to the batsman in order to try and put him off. And more often than not the sledging can get pretty brutal.
In fact, in a recent survey by Maxibon, they found that former Australian wicketkeeper Rod Marsh’s one liner to England legend Ian Botham during the 1986-87 Ashes test was the best of all time.
England went on to win the series 2-1 but the moment many people will remember is when Marsh asked Botham, ‘So how’s your wife and my kids?’
Botham replied, ‘Wife is fine, kids are r*******d.’
The research, conducted to launch Maxibon’s first sponsorship of the Yorkshire Vikings T20, found England’s James Ormond’s reply to Australia’s Mark Waugh to be the second best of all time.
Waugh received the most brutal of burns right back said to Ormond:
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 own family,’ referencing Waugh’s brother Steve who was Australia’s captain.
And what’s a list of sledges without Shane Warne? Daryll Cullinan was heading out to the wicket when Warne said he’d been waiting two years to humiliate him, to which Cullinan replied, “Looks like you spent it eating.”
Hitting sixes may be the most exciting part of cricket according to the survey, but a fifth of cricket fans can’t get enough of watching the players sledge each other.
Other all-time classics include:
– Andrew Flintoff (England) and Tino Best (West Indies): ‘Watch the windows, Tino.’
– Merv Hughes (Australia) vs Robin Smith (England): ‘If you turn the bat over you’ll get the instructions mate.’
– Viv Richards (West Indies) and Merv Hughes (Australia): ‘Let’s see you hit that to the boundary!’
– Glen McGrath (Australia) and Eddo Brandes (Zimbabwe): ‘Why are you so fat?’
– Dennis Lilllee (Australia) sledging the world: ‘I can see why you are batting so badly, you’ve got some **** on the end of your bat’.
– Shane Warne (Australia) and Darren Berry (Australia) sledge Michael Slater (Australia) ‘Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock.’
Susanne Frecker at Maxibon, said:
To celebrate our sponsorship of the T20 we wanted to find out what cricket fans really think of sledging.
We think it is a fun part of the game that sets it apart from other sports, and it’s great that cricket fans agree.
We’ll be working with the Yorkshire Country Cricket Club to bring our ice cream sandwiches, along with our big personality, to T20 matches throughout the 2017 season.
Howzat?
Taking the idea of ‘being woke’ to a whole new level over a decade-long career in sport, court and online news, George has worked for titles and agencies including ESPN FC, Eurosport, LADbible and Court News UK. He may not have a degree but does have an unhealthy obsession with Lord of the Rings.