Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Top 10 sledges

Well everyone who has played a decent bit of cricket knows that cricket is not much fun without at least some sledging. In fact it does tend to make the game interesting especially at times when not much is happening. A real good sledge can serve many purposes - demoralising the opposition, provoking them or sometimes just provide some real good entertainment.
So here are some sledges that I found on the net. They're taken from Simon Briggs' new book - Stiff upper lips and baggy green caps which I'm pretty sure hasn't released in India yet. So till you get to read the book, read these sledges. Nice warmup for the ashes I'd say.

Warning: Colourful languages. Regular KSBKBT viewers may not appreciate the genre of humour on show.

Top 10 sledges:

1 Mark Waugh to Jimmy Ormond on his Test debut, 2001: “Mate, what are you doing out here? There's no way you're good enough to play for England.”
Ormond: “Maybe not, but at least I'm the best player in my own family.”

2 Merv Hughes to Graeme Hick et al: “Mate, if you just turn the bat over you'll find the instructions on the other side.”

3 Hughes again: “Does your husband play cricket as well?”

4 Mike Atherton, on Merv Hughes: “I couldn't work out what he was saying, except that every sledge ended with ‘arsewipe’.”

5 Dennis Lillee to Mike Gatting, 1994: “Hell, Gatt, move out of the way. I can't see the stumps.”

6 Derek Randall to Lillee, after taking a glancing blow to the head: “No good hitting me there, mate, nothing to damage.”

7 Ian Healy, placing a fielder yards away at cover when Nasser Hussain was batting: “Let's have you right under Nasser's nose.”

8 Tony Greig, England’s South African-born captain, to the young David Hookes, 1977: “When are your balls going to drop, Sonny?”
Hookes: “I don't know, but at least I'm playing cricket for my own country.” Hookes hit Greig for five consecutive fours.

9 Rod Marsh, late Seventies: “How's your wife and my kids?”
Ian Botham: “The wife's fine – the kids are retarded.”

10 Bill Woodfull, Australia’s captain in the Bodyline series of 1932-33, responding to Douglas Jardine's complaint that a slip fielder had sworn at him: “All right, which one of you bastards called this bastard a bastard?”

2 comments:

J Ramanand said...

nice ones. I'm surprised it doesn't mention the legendary one about rod marsh and "keeping your legs together", unless if it was apocryphal

Aniket Khasgiwale said...

@Ramanand:
even i'm surprised he left that one out. But I think it was said by Trueman not Marsh