How far can sledging go?

Alexander Bisley interviews Grant Elliott for the Guardian:

On the topic of Australia, New Zealand’s fellow World Cup hosts, where does Elliott stand on the controversial sledging that caused such a storm during India’s pre-World Cup visit there? “I like to see emotions in cricket. You don’t mind sledging as long as it’s not personal. If it gets to that personal side then it’s just childish, like you’re in a playground again, six years old. I don’t mind it because I think it brings out the emotions in players. I think the public want to see emotions, they want to see a battle, they want to see a fast bowler versus someone who’s trying to hit him out the ground. So I quite like those battles. If there’s a couple of verbals, like I said, if it doesn’t get personal, that’s fine. It’s just the heat of the battle. Obviously the umpires are there to make sure it doesn’t get to a level that’s unacceptable.”

David Warner was fined for his part in an ugly on-field spat with Rohit Sharma during that Tri-Series, and Elliot is keen to stress there is a line that must not be crossed. “You have to keep reminding yourself of the spirit of cricket and not take it to that level…I was brought up in the Johannesburg league system, so that was pretty hairy. I started playing league cricket when I was 14, so the abuse that we got was definitely not acceptable.”

I see sledging like caption contests. They should be funny, not nasty.

The all time best sledge and retort in my view was:

McGrath: “Why are you so fat?”

Brandes  “Because every time I fuck your wife, she gives me a biscuit.”

The entire Australian team were in hysterics at that.

A close second is:

Rod Marsh : “So how’s your wife & my kids?”

Ian Botham : “The wife is fine but the kids are retarded”

The nastiest sledge I have heard of was the teams that made choo choo sounds at Chris Cairns, referring to his sister’s death in a train crash. That is just nasty and sick.