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[tommo256]

Evening guys,

This season has been a new experience for myself as I've gone from playing the best standard in the area helping making up the numbers and getting sledged a lot. To then playing where I should be and not getting any but giving a lot.
And yesterday we turned up to the game, and out scorer was speaking to the oppos skip who had been pre warned by other teams in the league that I was a yappy 'insert swear word of choice'.
Now in some ways I thrive of this a little bit as it must mean my sledging is doing something but on other hand it also gets me a bad repuatation when off the field I am more than happy to stay for beers with the oppo and chat to them.
But it also not only gives myself a bad rep but my club which is not something I really want to be doing!

People's thoughts please

Lee

[Nickauger]

Sledging is only acceptable if the recipients are giving it back imo. If batting first I will always wait to see how much (if any) I get given, and then will return the favour in the second innings. If fielding first I will keep my mouth shut and maybe have a few good natured sledges, and a bit of a giggle with the batter. I never ever sledge as a batter as you always look a cok when you get out! A wry smile is normally enough to piss the bowler off plenty!

[Cowcorner]

The problem is that a bad reputation is harder to lose than a good one - if it's established then if you say one word on the field they'll just assume everything they've heard is true. Stick around for a few beers with the guys after the game for a friendly chat and make light of the sledging and if you've really offended somebody then apologising to them always sets a good impression - you'll know if they're truly offended if they chase you around the boundary rope swinging their bat. Or cry.
Knowing your opposition is key - if it's fathers and sons/daughters I'd dial it down, if they're all mid twenties antipodeans with heavily tattooed bowling arms then dial it up to 11. There's a time and a place for everything.

[ProCricketer1982]

Agree with nick. If they give you loads then it's fair game. If you are just being a tool for the sake of it the chances are it's having no effect other than your own amusement and just causing you and the club a bad rep. People over estimate how much at our crap level sledging achieves. Clever sledges yes, but the utter crap most people come out wih is just rubbish, has no effect and makes you look like a tool.

Some people feel it's allowed to abuse people though, even though you'd not do it to a stranger on the street etc.

[Ayrtek Cricket]

Id rather have a reputation as being a good batsman/bowler than being someone whose good with their mouth, let your cricket do the talking and stick to enjoying the game rather than a slagging match.

[WalkingWicket37]

Nothing wrong with sledging as long as it's good natured and don't go into personal insult realms.

I had a good laugh with a batsman the other week, I pointed out he'd only scored runs down to third man (which he had) so he replied with "They all go down in the book, and I'm not stuck bowling like a less coordinated Paul Harris." We both laughed about it at the time and there was no offence meant by either of us.

I'd rather play like that every week than have people swearing at me and going for personal insults, but that's just my opinion.

[Cumbrian Pete]

A bit of friendly banter with the opposition is great and the odd comment to your team mates about how you might get a batter out due to the shots he's playing is also fine in my book...but direct sledging of an opponent who has made no comment to you to start with is where I think the line should be drawn.  Personal insults of any kind are also completely unacceptable. 

[tommo256]

I never personally insult, just comment on stuff they do at the crease like a batsmen the other week took guard and then hit his bat on his boots as the bowler was running in and I simply asked if it hurt his feet doing that, and he told me not to be so rude. 
And if people play and miss I might chirp up,

[Byo]

The fact you have a reputation for being a gobby so and so rather than a decent cricketer should tell you all you need to know!!!

[tommo256]

Yeah I understand that, last time I checked I was third in the wickets table in the league so, but not many people check the stats like I do for our league so it doesn't really matyer

[mdg20]

Nothing wrong with a bit of chat - keeps things interesting. The trick is to know when its working and when it isnt and not just do it for the sake of doing it. Me and the slips had a good one going the other week where we had a whole conversation for about 5 overs about wether or not the batsmen could hear us talking. He kept looking round and staring and had half his mind on what we were on about rather what he should be doing. It was great, got in his head without needing to be personal or even mention anything to do with cricket.

[skip1973]

The ones with the least ability always seem to sledge the most.

[eukaryote76]

AGREE WITH SKIP!!!

I play in Sunday Cricket and virtually nobody in our team sledges - we have a mix of ages from 19-45 with the median age in the early twenties. I should say, we are a mix of nationalities including Aus and Eng. To sledge or not sledge is a personal thing, but I'm glad we're sledge-free!

At a certain level it may have some effect but I'm not sure if it can be quantified. It makes me feel like I'm under their skin that they even bother to sledge and it makes me dig in harder - I love the look on their faces when they've been sledging you and then you're not out at the end of the innings and they're the ones in bat next! Better still if you bowl them out for single digits.

Our wicket keeper does actually chat to the opposition but it's fairy gentlemanly stuff and not related to the batsman at all - which is fairly disarming in itself. He jokes he is more critical of his own team-mates than the opposition. Blokes thinking up sledging seem to be distracted or perhaps in need of distraction, but they do not seem focussed on the task at hand. That's just my opinion.

[lewis_faulds]

Our first team skipper was sledged relentlessly by the wicket keeper while batting, looked about 20. He opened the batting and the skip clean bowled him and gave him a send off (as good as he got) only to find out the lad was 12 
His father asked for an apology to the boy after we stopped a scrap!

[gibbinscricket]

Sledging is a huge part of cricket, just trying and un-nerve the other players is fun, but I'm just a bit of a villain I guess. My favourite was when I got sledged for hoicking one thru midwicket and telling their captain he had completely the wrong field set up for me. He then asked me to set his field for him, which I did. He put in a midwicket and a 2nd slip for me as I suggested and the following over I slashed at one and nicked it straight to 2nd slip. 2nd slip proceeded to drop it and the captain who already had his head in his hands, had to listen to me berate him about how he needed to put decent fielders in the slips and how it was poor captaincy to put someone who obviously cant catch in such a critical postion.