The Ashes is the most historic battle in Test cricket. Australia and England have had some of the most competitive bilateral Test series with the 2005 Ashes in England being hailed as the greatest Test series of all-time.
A part of the Ashes folklore is also the verbal battles with the passionate players of both teams.
In this article, we have picked out some famous Ashes sledges of recent years:
Michael Clarke vs James Anderson
Let’s start with one of the most famous sledging incidents of all involving former Aussie skipper Michael Clarke and legendary England seamer James Anderson from the epic 2013 series Down Under when Mitchell Johnson was breathing fire.
In the Brisbane, with the bat in hand, Anderson was having some chat with George Bailey who was standing at short leg before skipper Clarke intervened and hurled down what will go as one of the most memorable lines delivered on a cricket field: “Face up then. Get ready for a broken f***en arm.”
Watch here:
Anderson shuts down Johnson with the ball
Though England were hammered 5-0 in the 2013 series, Anderson had one up on Johnson as he shut the Aussie down after being sledged. Johnson sledged Anderson about not getting any wickets and on the very next delivery, Anderson bowled the batsman on strike. A gesture of finger on lips was duly followed from the England seamer.
Here watch:
Shane Warne vs Paul Collingwood
The legendary Shane Warne had a verbal tussle with England batsman Paul Collingwood following that epic 2005 Ashes in England. All the England team players that won the 2005 Ashes were awarded MBEs (Member of the Order of the British Empire).
Collingwood, though, scored only 17 runs in the Oval Test. Afterwards when he met Shane Warne, the Aussie didn’t fail to sledge him.
“You’ve got an MBE, right? For scoring 17 at The Oval? That’s embarrassing,” Warner told Collingwood and had a laugh about it.
Ollie Robinson gives a send-off to Usman Khawaja
The latest in the line of famous Ashes sledging moments is from pacer Ollie Robinson who gave an abusive send-off to Australian batsman Usman Khawaja in the first Test of the Ashes 2023 at Edgbaston. Khawaja had been a thorn in England’s side and scored 141 runs before being bowled by Robinson.
Robinson celebrated by shouting towards Khawaja, and appeared to tell him to, “F*** off, you f***ing prick.”
This expletive-filled send-off from Robinson didn’t go down well with many fans and some journalists. When he was queried about the same in the press conference, Robinson had no regrets about it and said it was all part of the “theatre” of the Ashes.
“It’s my first home Ashes and to get the big wicket at the time was special for me,” Robinson said. “I think Uzzie played unbelievably well. To get that wicket for us as a team at the time was massive. We all want that theatre of the game, don’t we? So I’m here to provide it.”
Robinson remarked that in the past many Australians, including former skipper Ricky Ponting, had sledged the England players, so he didn’t find anything unusual in giving it back to the Aussies.
“No, it’s not,” Robinson said. “But I think when you’re in the heat of the moment and you have the passion of the Ashes, that can happen. We’ve all seen Ricky Ponting, other Aussies do the same to us. Just because the shoe is on the other foot, it’s not received well.”
