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'A difference between banter and abuse' - Justin Langer vows to put 'fun' back into sledging - ESPNcricinfo
I'm glad I'm alive to witness this.
Justin Langer's daughters are now the most powerful force driving the cultural change in the Australian cricket team.Sledging is fun!" says Australia's new coach!
Okay, so Justin Langer was referring specifically to the "banter" (note: definitely NOT abuse ...) that flies across the table when he and his daughters are playing the card game UNO. However, there was a steely message lurking within an otherwise amusing metaphor, as he and Tim Paine, Australia's captain, faced the media at Lord's in their first official engagement of this month's tour of England.
"Everyone talks about this word 'sledging', but there's a difference between banter and abuse," Langer said. "Abuse is no good - it doesn't matter if you're off the field or on the field, there's no room for it ever. But there's plenty of room for banter, or what we call sledging. It's a fun part of the game!
"If I'm playing with my daughter, she wants to beat me big time, so we have a bit of banter, or what we call sledging. She's pretty good at it, all Australians are good at it, we take it so seriously, but that's okay. I never abuse her, and if she abuses me ... there's trouble you know!"
...
"Even if we are so nice, everyone is still going to think we are still a bunch of rough-edged Australians," he said. "That's just how it's going to be, mate. So whatever, we can go about our business really well, behave well on the field and off the field, but we'll still be called sledging Australians. It's been happening the last 30 years. We'll work with that.
I'm glad I'm alive to witness this.