Ten of the best (or worst) sledges In Cricket

[IndiaGuy]

Ahead of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, AFP Sport presents some of the best (or worst) sledging exchanges down the years:


- Rod Marsh and Ian Botham:

When Botham took guard in an Ashes match, Marsh welcomed him with: "So how's your wife and my kids?" to which Botham shot back: "The wife's fine, but the kids are retarded."


- South Africa batsman Daryll Cullinan and Aussie spin wizard Shane Warne:

As Cullinan was on his way to the wicket, Warne told him he had been waiting two years for another chance to humiliate him. "Looks like you spent it eating," Cullinan retorted.


- Robin Smith of England and Australian fast bowler Merv Hughes:

Hughes said to Smith after he played and missed: "You can't ******* bat". Smith to Hughes after he smacked him to the boundary: "Hey Merv, we make a fine pair. I can't ******* bat and you can't ******* bowl."


- Hughes and Pakistan's Javed Miandad:

Javed called Hughes a fat bus conductor. A few balls later Hughes dismissed the Pakistan star: "Tickets please", said Hughes as he ran past the departing batsman.


- England's James Ormond had just come out to bat and was greeted by Australia's Mark Waugh:

Waugh from the slips: "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 family."


- Warne and Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Ranatunga:

Wicketkeeper Ian Healy believed he knew a way of tempting the portly Ranatunga out of his crease - "Put a Mars Bar on a good length. That should do it."


- England captain Douglas Jardine and Australian counterpart Bill Woodfull during the notorious Bodyline series:

After Jardine complained that one of the Australian players called him a b******. Woodfull turned to his team, pointed to Jardine and asked: "Which one of you b******* called this b****** a b******?"


- Sunil Gavaskar of India and West Indies' Viv Richards:

Gavaskar, normally an opener, had decided to bat at number four, but Malcolm Marshall dismissed Anshuman Gaekwad and Dilip Vengsarkar for ducks, setting the stage for Gavaskar to walk in at 0-2. Richards said: "Man, it don't matter where you come in to bat, the score is still zero."


- Richards and England fast bowler Greg Thomas:

Thomas: (Describing the ball) "It's red, round and weighs about five ounces, in case you were wondering." Richards: (Having smacked said ball out of the ground) "You know what it looks like, now you go and find it."

 

[KhanHaripur]

Kapil Dev ,who started bowling negatively way outside leg-stump to waste as much time as possible.After some time Majid Khan became furious at his negative tactics and replied in the most awesome fashion.He took the leg-stump out and placed it 2 foot outside leg-stump just to mention Kapil that your deleveries will reach their.
The stage was set for the perfect climax of the 2nd Test match between India and Pakistan (1978 series).On the final day Pakistan needed 128 runs to win.(Remember India were 307/3 on the start of the day).Pakistan started their reply briskley through Majid Khan .Majid was in full flow and ready to rip apart India as quickly as possible.

 

[IndiaGuy]

Afridi wants Pakistan-India World Cup final

Karachi: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi Thursday said a possible duel with India in the World Cup final would be ideal for the tournament and a boost to international cricket, drawing billions of viewers.

"There is a possibility that Pakistan and India play the final of the World Cup and if that happens it would be ideal for the World Cup, one-day format and for the game of cricket," Afridi told AFP.

Arch-rivals Pakistan and India are in separate groups of the 14-team World Cup, jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and starts on February 19.

The top four teams from each of the two groups meet in the quarter-final and Afridi hopes both India and Pakistan avoid each other until the April 2 final.

"Both India and Pakistan have to play above their potential to reach the final but it would be ideal for the billions of people around the world," said Afridi, who will be playing his fourth World Cup.

Pakistan have not beaten India in the four matches they have played at World Cups.

India beat Pakistan by 39 runs in a highly charged quarter-final at Bangalore in the 1996 World Cup.

The two have not played each other outside tournaments since the 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai, which claimed 166 lives and caused a diplomatic rift between New Delhi and Islamabad.

However the pair met in the Champions Trophy held in South Africa in 2009, where Pakistan beat India -- the last international match between them.

Afridi said beating their arch-rivals in the Mumbai final would be the "icing on the cake."

"We would love to beat India in India and in a World Cup match because we have never done this before and this could be a great motivation," said Afridi.

Playing down any possible threat from Hindu fundamentalists during the World Cup, Afridi said: "People of both the nations love cricket and I don't see any threat.

"But yes, if the atmosphere is highly charged it would definitely spur both the teams on and bring out the best in the players from both the sides."

Cricket had united both the nations and has the power to do that again, he said.

"I know that this beautiful game has the charm and the power to bring the nations closer," he said.

"What we have seen in the past is an ample proof of that. When India came here in 2004 people from both sides came closer and when we toured India we were welcomed by their people, so it's a mutual love for the game."

Expressing hopes the two nations resume cricketing ties, Afridi said billions of cricket fans are missing a "big thing".

Pakistan fly out to Dhaka early Friday morning where they are due to play warm-up matches against Bangladesh and England.

Pakistan open their World Cup campaign with a match against Kenya at Sri Lankan town of Hambantota on February 23.