England captain Alastair Cook (left) feels there is no need to rein James Anderson in after the bowler was criticised for using abusive language. (Reuters)

AFP/Manchester

Rival captains Alastair Cook and Mahendra Singh Dhoni revealed very different approaches to the vexed question of verbal abuse ahead of the fourth Test between England and India at Old Trafford yesterday.

The issue came to the fore after the International Cricket Council confirmed they would not appeal against the decision of judicial commissioner Gordon Lewis to clear England’s James Anderson over allegations he pushed and abused India’s Ravindra Jadeja in the Trent Bridge pavilion during the drawn first Test in Nottingham.

But what is not in dispute is paceman Anderson’s fondness for ‘sledging’ out in the middle. There have been several successful fast bowlers, including Anderson’s Lancashire and England predecessor Brian Statham (252 Test wickets at 24.84 and more than 2,200 first-class wickets at the scarcely credible average of 16.37) who rarely, if ever, ‘sledged’ or verbally abused a batsman.

When Anderson, now just 12 shy of Ian Botham’s England record of 383 Test wickets, started his international career he was not one for dishing out the ‘verbals’ but decided he needed to do so in order to get himself going.

And Cook doesn’t want his spearhead fast bowler to do anything different at Old Trafford—Anderson’s Lancashire home ground. “Of course there’s little bits where Jimmy might have overstepped the mark throughout his career but you’d rather be on that line than too passive,” Cook said.

“I’ve been round for dinner with Jimmy and he doesn’t use that language with mum and dad.  You have to get yourself in that right mental state to perform and you do that when you need it most, which is obviously in the middle.  That’s when it’s important and that’s why he has that slightly split personality.”

mental disintegration

When Australia were the world’s dominant side in the 1990s and early 2000s, the belief grew that the way to succeed was to copy them in every respect—including their penchant for sledging or “mental disintegration” to use the term coined by former Aussie captain Steve Waugh—rather than by simply playing better cricket.

But inevitably there were occasions when what one side considered ‘banter’ was deemed by their opponents to be ‘abuse’, hence the ICC’s introduction of a code of conduct.

Several India players were not shy of having a few words, even if purely English-speaking officials weren’t always sure of what they were saying—a source of confusion in the infamous ‘monkey’ row between Harbhajan Singh and Australia’s Andrew Symonds.

But Dhoni appeared to be calling for a return to a gentler age when he said Wednesday: “The world has changed and a lot of emphasis is put on winning games with so-called killer instinct but it has been misinterpreted a lot.  “You cannot really move ahead saying abuse is part of the game.”

Perhaps if more officials adopted the approach of now retired English umpire Dickie Bird, potential flashpoints might be stopped in their tracks.

Not that Bird was always completely successful as he admitted when recalling an incident involving Australia paceman Merv Hughes and England batsman Graeme Hick in the late 80’s in a Test natch.

“Merv’s language was getting worse and worse and I had had enough.  “I turned to him and told him: ‘I want you to be a good boy. Don’t swear anymore.

He looked at me and said: ‘Dickie Bird, you’re a legend. I won’t swear again’. He came in next ball and Hick played and missed again. Never swear again? I’ve never heard language like it after that!”