Shane Warne shares the secrets to perfecting the art of sledging as tensions reach boiling point in South Africa.

SLEDGING isn’t about being vicious or yelling bravado, it’s a fine art aimed at unsettling your opponent. Shane Warne was one of the best exponents of the verbal and here’s how he did it.

SLEDGING isn’t about being vicious or yelling bravado, it’s a fine art aimed at unsettling your opponent. Shane Warne was one of the best exponents of the verbal and here’s how he did it.

As tensions reached boiling point during the 2017/18 Ashes, Shane Warne wrote this column about perfecting the sledge.

Following the explosive confrontation between David Warner and Quinton de Kock in South Africa, Warne has said everyone just needs to have a beer and stop whingeing.

Column:

It’s been surprising the sparring has carried on into the public domain too, which is unusual, with both captains leading the charge at press conferences.

In Adelaide this week it was obvious to all that when Smith walked out to bat there seemed to be a conscious effort by Joe Root, Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson to get in the face of and verbal the home skipper.

Now, depending on who you listen to, this has either been a roaring success (Jimmy) or a complete waste of time (Smithy).

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“I think it did work, yeah, because we got him out quite cheaply,” Anderson said.

“Just trying to get someone out of their little bubble and unsettle them is a good thing. At that point in time Steve seemed more interested in having a chat with me and Stuart than actually focusing on his job.”

Smith, after steering his side to a 2-0 series lead, saw it a differently.

Australia's Nathan Lyon has words to England captain Joe Root as he leaves the field at stumps on Day 4 of the Second Test

“I think they actually switched me on,” he countered.

“It was when they stopped talking to me that I might have lost concentration. I actually enjoyed it. It made me really focused, it got me in my little bubble ...”

So the sledging either burst or built the bubble. Go figure.

At the moment while the byplay has at times been very heated from both teams, it’s mostly been accompanied by a smile and been conducted in the right spirit.

But I have a feeling the banter could boil over in Perth.

With the Ashes on the line and the Poms staring down the barrel of a 5-0 whitewash, the emotion could well reach fever pitch — a bit like the WACA Ground wicket.

For mine, the art of sledging is all about unsettling your opponent to the point where they lose concentration and focus.

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It’s about being subtle, clever and humorous rather than loud bravado.

It’s the little word here or there, often when your opponent least expects it, that can really touch a nerve.

Sledging is about making a batsman think of something other than what he should be.
Taking an example from another sport, it’s like arriving at a par three with a green protected by water and recalling to your partner about the time he “sliced one into the drink on the right”. Just gets you thinking.

EXECUTING THE PERFECT SLEDGE
Back to cricket, I remember reading the paper on the morning of day one of a Boxing Day Test against South Africa. Daryll Cullinan had given an interview and he’d revealed he’d been to see a psychologist, saying he’s been playing the man and not the ball, but was now ready for the battle.

Ian Bell (L) who Shane Warne said looks like the |Sherminator|, a character from the American Pie

I read this and thought, “My goodness, the mind boggles at how I might be able to use this.”

I bide my time and in the second innings I knock over Adam Bacher and suddenly Cullinan comes out.

After the Bacher wicket I stayed down near slips. I was loitering with intent, to the extent that Mark Taylor told me to push back and get on with it.

I told him there was no way I’m letting this opportunity pass.

Cullinan was a terrific player but I’d had the wood on him and he’d been dropped the series before. He basically couldn’t read the flipper.

So as I slowly walked past him — he had his head down, marking his guard — I quietly asked, “What colour was the couch?”

His response ended in the word “off” and I knew straight away I had him — I knocked him over a few balls later.

I remember some funny Ashes banter with Ian Bell too — he laughed when I called him the Sherminator, after the character in American Pie.

“I’ve been called worse,” the Englishman responded. I said no you haven’t.

It’s about subtlety, timing and picking your mark. You don’t need to be vicious.

I do remember going too far in an IPL match, playing for Rajasthan Royals against Delhi Daredevils.

Gautam Gambhir started ripping into me about the fact we weren’t going to make the finals, that we were going to lose the game, which was all true.

I looked at him and said, “Listen mate, I blame your parents”.

“What are you talking about?” he said.

“They should have pinned your ears back when you were a kid,” I responded — and the Indian star lost it!

Warne expects tensions to boil over in Perth

Regarding Steve Smith, I’m not sure I’d be sledging him in Perth.

If I was England the best thing now would be to not say a word to him when he walks out, just ignore him and give him the silent treatment.

It’s hard to split Virat Kohli and Smith for the title of No. 1 Test batsmen in the world at the moment and the best players like the battle and are super competitive. Engaging him in banter could just ignite the concentration within and lead to a big 100 for the Aussie skipper.

It’s a bit like when the Australian teams that I played in started sledging Brian Lara — we learnt after the seventh or eighth ton that it wasn’t a great plan.

You’ve got to know the personality of your targets.

Joe Root? The Aussies in Perth on Thursday might chat to him about his issues with turning 50s into 100s. That and how his side is “massively still in this series”, as he said on Wednesday night.

ENGLAND NEED TO FOCUS ON THEMSELVES
I find it very odd about what’s coming out of the England camp at the moment, claiming Australia is a little worried, even scarred by the Ashes battles to date.

Let’s look at the facts.

England hung in there for three days in Brisbane and then Australia flexed its muscles and blew them away, winning by 10 wickets.

Second Test, Root makes one of the worst decision ever to bowl first — it’s the Adelaide Oval for one, and two, it was a flat pitch.
England takes just four wickets on day one and Australia declares at 8-442 and that was where the game was lost.

England came back and fought hard which is what you expect from a good side and England is just that but in the end they couldn’t get it done and now they’re heading west where they haven’t won for 39 years.

It’s time to stop the spin and worry about the cricket.

The England leaders should be talking about themselves, not the Aussies.

They should be saying we haven’t played well enough in the first two Tests but we’re here to win and we believe we can, we will work hard this week to get our plans right and to find a way against Nathan Lyon.

Anyone who has watched the Brisbane and Adelaide matches knows England has been short of what’s required and that’s why they are two-nil down.

I don’t think Australia is too worried about England at the moment.

Let’s hope England is honest with itself and turns up in Perth with better plans and can execute them which means we head to the mighty MCG with the series still alive.