Aggers criticises Australia's sledging in light of Phil Hughes death

[wpdavid]

Actually towards the last test I think they were having fun about all the sledging than any serious abuses being hurled... I have always been against the type of sledging that seems to be championed by the Aussie teams since the time I have started watching cricket but what Aggers is saying now can be applicable to any team.. Like Jarrod Kimber wrote, "sledging and understanding the limits is a very Aussie thing, and u need to have grown up playing there to understand what is ok and what is not ok to be said.. " And given that all teams are equally bad at this sledging now, most of these guys dont even know where to draw the line and that is why it all gets a little too ugly...

Dunno about that. My impression is that the Aus boys have always been very keen to tell us that they value not crossing the line, but it doesn't seem to mean very much. In practice, anything they want to dish out is hunky dory, but anything the opponents do that irks them isn't. Not that that has anything to do with Agnew's comment about Hughes, whose same point had been made rather better on these pages a weeks or so back.

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah using the Hughes tragedy to make this point is absolute nonsense.. The point could have well been made without needlessly bringing in someone whose memories must be so hard for those blokes who were closest to him...

 

[honestbharani]

Dunno about that. My impression is that the Aus boys have always been very keen to tell us that they value not crossing the line, but it doesn't seem to mean very much. In practice, anything they want to dish out is hunky dory, but anything the opponents do that irks them isn't. Not that that has anything to do with Agnew's comment about Hughes, whose same point had been made rather better on these pages a weeks or so back.

Oh I absolutely agree.. Even if the Aussies did never cross the line (which I think is absolute BS) there is no reason why cricket should be played under this myth of the Aussie sledging rules.. It is an international game and it should be played by the rules that everyone recognizes and I am sure no one recognizes the sledging line that the Aussies seem to have developed..

 

[grecian]

Can't be arsed to read the thread. So I'll just state I like sledging, and lines are for ****ing wimps.

 

[GotSpin]

Can't be arsed to read the thread. So I'll just state I like sledging, and lines are for ****ing wimps.

These Rules are the only ones that seperate us from the monkeys!

 

[BoyBrumby]

I'm not privy to what was said onfield in the series and if Agnew had access to the stump mike feed he may have more idea than me.

If someone really was saying "Knock his head off, knock his head off" or something similar it does strike one as pretty poor form scarcely two months after a good man died playing the game he loved.

 

[Spark]

I'm not privy to what was said onfield in the series and if Agnew had access to the stump mike feed he may have more idea than me.

If someone really was saying "Knock his head off, knock his head off" or something similar it does strike one as pretty poor form scarcely two months after a good man died playing the game he loved.

As far as anyone not out on the pitch is aware, nothing of the sort has been said. It got heated, but IIRC the biggest blow-ups were due to (a) sendoffs and (b) players trying to "umpire"

 

[grecian]

These Rules are the only ones that seperate us from the monkeys!

racist

 

[BoyBrumby]

As far as anyone not out on the pitch is aware, nothing of the sort has been said. It got heated, but IIRC the biggest blow-ups were due to (a) sendoffs and (b) players trying to "umpire"

Yeah, I struggle to believe anyone would've been quite so crass.

 

[GotSpin]

racist

Not racist where i live now so its okay

 

[Spark]

I mean, supposing that someone did say "knock his head off", there'd be no way to know short of having it caught a-la-broken-****in'-arm. It's a crass way of saying, but functionally indistinct from, "bowl a bouncer" which is... not really a sledge, in my book...? Not least because it's not actually directed at the batsman.

 

[Cabinet96]

Not racist where i live now so its okay

*duffer heh*

 

[BoyBrumby]

I mean, supposing that someone did say "knock his head off", there'd be no way to know short of having it caught a-la-broken-****in'-arm. It's a crass way of saying, but functionally indistinct from, "bowl a bouncer" which is... not really a sledge, in my book...? Not least because it's not actually directed at the batsman.

Definitely said for the batsman's benefit tho; a lot of sledging is couched as advice for teammates that the oppo is meant to hear, "Drop a couple short here Mitch; ****'s gutless" type deal

 

[Spark]

Oh yeah absolutely, and that's what I think of most immediately when the word "sledging" comes to mind, but the point remains that it's (a) impossible for anyone to know for sure that something like that was said with that level of tastelessness and (b) that's not really the sort of sledging that can or should be policed. In large part because it can be reduced to something that no reasonable human being would object to.

 

[Cabinet96]

Definitely said for the batsman's benefit tho; a lot of sledging is couched as advice for teammates that the oppo is meant to hear, "Drop a couple short here Mitch; ****'s gutless" type deal

Ha, quite. If you wanted to use a bouncer for shock value you wouldn't shout it at the top of your voice from the slip cordon.

 

[YorksLanka]

wow shock horror,Aussie players behave like ***** on the cricket field..never seen that before..

 

[Tom Halsey]

Oh yeah absolutely, and that's what I think of most immediately when the word "sledging" comes to mind, but the point remains that it's (a) impossible for anyone to know for sure that something like that was said with that level of tastelessness and (b) that's not really the sort of sledging that can or should be policed. In large part because it can be reduced to something that no reasonable human being would object to.

Seeing as he is a commentator it is quite possible that he has heard something that we haven't. Not saying he has, obviously, but it is definitely possible.

I've read Agnew say before how they hear basically everything, far more than is heard through stump mics on TV, and how he finds it off-putting trying to commentate whilst hearing different conversations between players and umpires in his ears.

 

[Jono]

Was interesting hearing Harris talk about it last night on the radio. Talked about how the Indians tend to prefer to get very close when they have something to say to you, which can make the situations look a lot more "intense" than what they really are.

EDIT: to make it clear, the conversation in full certainly wasn't blaming the Indians at all, he was just touching on some of the differences on how the two teams conducted their "chat" on the field.

 

[Gnske]

Seeing as he is a commentator it is quite possible that he has heard something that we haven't. Not saying he has, obviously, but it is definitely possible.

I've read Agnew say before how they hear basically everything, far more than is heard through stump mics on TV, and how he finds it off-putting trying to commentate whilst hearing different conversations between players and umpires in his ears.

Maybe he should seriously consider discontinuing his work if he dislikes it so much and is going to make awful articles without a shred of evidence that anymore than schoolyard teasing/goading/banter was going on.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Maybe he should seriously consider discontinuing his work if he dislikes it so much and is going to make awful articles without a shred of evidence that anymore than schoolyard teasing/goading/banter was going on.

Well, quite. I thought it was a strange comment regarding stump mics when I read it (was a good while back so I was paraphrasing anyway) and I'm not defending him. I'm just saying the "no-one knows" logic, whilst true for all on here, isn't necessarily true as far as Agnew is concerned.