England’s Test cricket team has rediscovered the power of sledging

English cricket’s dramatic victory over India at Lord’s in the third Test was a match for the ages. It was old-fashioned, attritional Test cricket from the archives when run-scoring wasn’t all about ramping it over the wicketkeeper’s head. India nudged via the superb Ravi Jadeja. England needled with Brydon Carse and the exocet express of Jofra Archer. There was chatter out in the middle as the hosts put sledging on full volume for the final day at the home of cricket.

Ben Stokes Decided To Sledge as England Were ‘Too Nice’

Ben Stokes revealed that his team had a conflab after the fourth evening in St John’s Wood with the series tied at one-all. The conclusion was they were too nice, too soft on the opposition when the scenario called for more aggression. It’s all very well being the Bazball entertainers, trying to create a legacy of memorable greatest hits. It was time to back up the bravado with some verbals. Getting into India’s heads was key.

This all sparked from an incident in the first innings where India skipper Shubman Gill challenged Zak Crawley after the England opener ate up the last few minutes of play to avoid facing another over. It’s an old time-wasting trick, but Gill’s finger-pointing intervention, backed up with some fiery backing vocals, only served to juice up the hosts.

Sledging Has Been Used in Test Cricket As a Weapon to Undermine

Sledging has been around since the days of WG Grace. In 1989, Australian skipper Allan Border decided that the Australians, described as “possibly the worst touring side ever to leave these shores”, had to toughen up to reclaim the Ashes. In the previous 1985 series, Border was accused of being too convivial with David Gower’s team in a 3-1 defeat. This time, the niceties were dead. When Robin Smith asked for a glass of water during a hot day, he got a volley from the Baggy Green skipper. “No, you f*****g can’t, what do you think this is – a f*****g tea party?”

The IPL Softened Test Cricket Rivalries

Since the inception of the IPL, combatants from different nations play with each other and that has diluted the aggressive interplay to some degree. Even the intemperate Virat Kohli admitted he could never have a go at AB de Villiers again after bonding with him for a decade at Royal Challengers Bangalore. Michael Clarke went so far as to claim that the richest cricket league in the world had stopped the Australians from going at the Indians in the 2018/19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

“I feel, Australian cricket, and probably every other team, over a little period went the opposite – actually sucked up to India. They were too scared to sledge Kohli or sledge the Indian players because they had to go and play with them in April,” claimed the former Ashes-winning captain. Clarke was involved in one of the ugliest sledging incidents when he threatened James Anderson to “get ready for a broken arm” in 2013. Kohli’s shoulder barge with Sam Konstas at the MCG reminded everyone that India can push the envelope as much as anyone.

“The last thing I want is for boys and girls watching cricket to be going and playing club cricket and saying things like that to opposition players,” was Clarke’s take six months later

India have entered a new era under Gill, but this five-match series is huge box office drama for approximately 900 million cricket fans in the country. Broadcasters have a huge audience when the Men in Blue are in town, and with legends Rohit and Kohli now retired from the format, the new fire in the belly can only drive more engagement. Winning would also help.

England were never going to wind up someone as wily as Jadeja, but after Washington Sundar was caught on various broadcast outlets predicting victory for the tourists, it was almost like a red rag to a bull. Brendon McCullum was instructing his team to raise the vocals in the field as the all-rounder strode to the wicket. When he was dismissed by Archer for a duck, the bowler and Stokes were happy to give Washington a less-than-presidential send-0ff.

Stokes Said Words at Lord’s Didn’t Overstep the Mark

After the game, Stokes was adamant that nothing had crossed the line of what is acceptable on a cricket pitch. “I don’t think there’s anyone in the Indian dressing room or anyone in the English dressing room that’s going to bed, going to cry themselves to sleep over what was said or done out there. Sometimes it gets a little bit over-egged from an outsider’s point of view. I don’t think it overstepped the line from the Indian team or from our team. It adds to the theater” he added.

That theatre of Test cricket also included Mohammed Siraj getting in the face of Ben Duckett after dismissing the English batsman. He was fined 15 per cent of his match fee for “excessive celebration at close proximity to the dismissed batter.” Ultimately, fans of the format were captivated by the sheer passion of both teams. No one backed down to the very end when Siraj’s forward defense rolled onto the stumps. Even the English players consoled him as he stood there in disbelief.

After the West Indies were bowled out for a miserable 27, the second lowest ever score in Test cricket in front of a sparse crowd at Sabina Park, England and India’s fight was why red-ball cricket is seen as the ultimate in purists’ eyes. It just doesn’t pay the bills or fill the seats outside of the Big Three.

“They do not have to try and impress anyone or sledge just because it might have been done like that in the past. Just be themselves,” Pat Cummins said of his teammates when he became Australian skipper. The Ashes in November will be the next staging point to see if Stokes’s team can hit back with words as well as wickets. It could be spicy.