The verbal battle
Much has been made of how 'matey' the England and Australia players became during the last Ashes series, especially Kevin Pietersen, Shane Warne, Andrew Flintoff and Brett Lee
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
Much has been made of how 'matey' the England and Australia players became during the last Ashes series, especially Kevin Pietersen, Shane Warne, Andrew Flintoff and Brett Lee. Former Australian players have told the team to stop being so friendly so listening to the stump microphones could be an interesting part of the next six weeks. Stephen Brenkley, in The Independent on Sunday takes a look at the possible sledging battles and picks out some classic lines from the past.
The cordial relations between the sides in the previous Ashes have been cited as a contributory factor in Australia's defeat. "We didn't have an edge to our game," said Allan Border, under whose stewardship Australia were zealous in trying to undermine opponents with a verbal volley.
Andrew McGlashan is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo