The Sledger's Handbook - How to deliver the perfect insult
Facts, Figures and
Fun ISBN:
1904332641 (November, 2006) Buy
It Now
 The
Sledger’s Handbook (How to deliver the perfect
cricketing insult) is one hell of a funny book and easily
the funniest book I’ve read this year! The book,
written by Liam McCann, had me in stitches from start
to finish as I reminisced sledges of old. The book has
also introduced me to plenty of sledges I’d never
heard of, I for one can’t wait to try some of
them out next time I take to the field! It’s an
ideal Christmas stocking filler, superbly priced and
well presented in a pocket sized hardback.
The book is divided into six parts or chapters each
giving fine examples of classic sledges throughout the
19th, 20th and 21st centuries. The author has split
the various types of sledges into the following categories;
what does it mean, the welcome, seeds of doubt, dismissal,
sharp practices and best of the rest. To be honest I
don’t think there was any need to break them up
but it works well nonetheless. Spread over 160 pages,
there is a sledge for every occasion including comments
from many of today’s international stars and especially
the 2005 Ashes series – a nice tough to bring
it bang up to date.
McCann introduces us to the history and origins of sledging
and what it means in the bigger picture, who would have
thought that an early adopter would have been an Englishman,
namely Dr WG Grace who often refused to walk even though
it was clear he had lost his wicket. Well known for
replacing the bails if the slightest touch of the ball
has dislodged them, he would claim a sudden gust of
wind had caused the bail to fall from its perch. This
led to an umpire replying with
“Let us hope that
the wind helps the good doctor on his journey back to
the pavilion”
a classic and one I had never heard
of before! There are numerous incidents involving Grace
in the book and more often than not relate to him losing
a wicket! Continuing, we are given brief examples from
the 1932/3 Bodyline series, Ray Illingworth and the
fiery Lillee and Thompson.
There are far too many sledges found in this book to
mention here and I guess all I can do is include a few
of my favourite sledges, you'll have to buy the book
to read the rest!. Following the origin of sledging
we find many examples of how Test and County cricketers
greet their opposition as they walk in and take guard,
ready to face a fiery Fred Trueman or a mercurial Shane
Warne. In fact Shane Warne appears throughout the book
as you would expect, firmly of the belief that it is
not just the delivery that claims the wicket, he thinks
a batsman out, both psychologically and tactically.
Please be warned - as you would expect
from sledging, the book does include coarse language
and is probably not for the youngest of children. I
couldn’t give an ideal age as most children know
more than I do these days!
Merv Hughes is renowned for sledging and when Graeme
Hick arrived at the crease he uttered
“So Graeme, what does
your husband do while you are playing cricket?”
Hughes more or less repeated the phrase
when Robin Smith arrived
“Does your husband
play cricket as well?”!
One of my favourite examples of vintage
Hughes has to be when he was bowling to Atherton. The
England captain had played and missed a ball and what
promptly followed is a prime example of a sledge ..
“I’ll bowl you
a f****g piano, you Pommie poof; let’s see if
you can play that” – Classic!
The book includes the likes of Fred Trueman who when
faced with two poor decisions from the umpire, (leg
before decision and caught behind to an obvious knick)
clean bowled his opponent with his next delivery and
turned to the umpire and uttered
“That’s got
to be bloody close, hasn’t it?”
– Priceless!
Viv Richards is no stranger to sledging
and one occasion when facing Merv Hughes, yes it's that
man again!, he lost control and said
“This is my Island,
my culture. Don't you be staring at me, in my culture
we just bowl”.
Hughes knew he had his man and moments
later after bowling Richards he retorted
“In my culture we
just say F*** off” ! The book seems
to have an endless supply of sledges and interesting
side notes on great cricketing moments, often clarifying
something that we have all seen either at the ground
or on tv but never knew what had caused the conflict.
This is what makes the book interesting, it's not simply
a book listing all the sledges on record, it's deeper
than that.
In the final section of the book McCann
takes a look at sledges in other sports and includes
Tennis, Football, Snooker and Rugby. All in all a wonderful
collection of sledges and comments from international
cricket. I wanted the examples to go on and on but like
any book there's a back cover and the material ends.
This is the type of book you could pick up time and
time again and one thing is guaranteed; it'll put a
smile on your face as you work your way through the
book. Buy
It Now
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