Lend me your brain, I'm building an idiot

Aussie cricketer to England's Phil Tufnell

Mind games master: Steve Waugh

Whenever he played against the Oakland A's between 1918 and 1928, he never passed second baseman Jimmy Dykes without snarling "You stink!" - before, during and after the game.

Cobb didn't care what people thought of his attitude, but these days sportsmen and women are under no little pressure to present themselves and their sport in the best possible light.

Hence the International Cricket Council's decision last year to give umpires new powers to impose a five-run penalty on teams deemed guilty of sledging.

Australian captain Steve Waugh described the move as "ridiculous", but then he would say that.

'Mind powers'

Former Aussie skipper Ian Chappell claims to have invented the modern form of "dissing" opponents to gain the upper hand, and the current team are no slouches in the sledging department.

Waugh, however, prefers to call it "mental disintegration"

"It's all part of the game," he said. "Test cricket is about not only testing your skill but testing your mind powers in certain situations."

Australian Institute of Sport psychologist Jeff Bond believes Waugh's war of words with Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly could decide the current series between the countries.

Tufnell: Tries not to sledge or be sledged

"Waugh strikes me as the sort of person who doesn't say or do anything unless he's really thought about it and he's doing it for a reason.

"He's certainly very very strong in (psyching out opponents) and I think that's one of the reasons the team's doing as well as it is."

Sometimes, it's better to get your retaliation in first, as Michael Atherton did with Waugh ahead of the 1994 Australia v England series.

He reckoned Waugh's constant chat was "a bit of a joke when he was the one bloke wetting himself against the quick bowlers".

But some players, including England spinner Phil Tufnell, see sledging as being counter-productive.

"If I beat a batsman's outside edge and say 'You're s***' and then the next ball he hits me for six, who's the prat?"

Tufnell reckons though that it is all part of the cut and thrust of the game, and is often actually more amusing than insulting.

One of his favourite barbs came against (surprise) Australia, when one of the oppostion asked for the loan of his brain "because I'm building an idiot".

Former Aussie captain Mark Taylor reckons no player worth his salt has ever been put off by verbal abuse.

However, his predecessor, Allan Border, couldn't think of any who hadn't.

That difference of opinion sums up why sledging is never going to be eliminated from the game - it might just work...