ICC Move to Crack Down on Sledging Bad for Cricket Fans: David Warner

Australian cricketer David Warner has criticised the move taken by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to crack down on on-field sledgings, and the batsman has suggested that the move takes away all the entertainment from the game.

The 28-year-old is regarded as one of the most vocal players in the Australian cricket roster, after the southpaw was fined twice by cricket's governing body in the past 18 months.

In the first occasion, Warner was punished for a ball tampering offence during a series in South Africa in February 2014. He was soon engaged with a war of words with Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma in an ODI tri-series at Melbourne Cricket Ground in January this year.

"I'm on my last warning from the ICC. These rules are being clamped down now," Warner told Australian media outlet Fairfax.

"They're really honing in on players celebrating wickets and obviously a bit of banter on the field. If you walk towards a player the umpires are going to fine you, you've got to be smart with what you do."

Warner also mentions that the supporters these days do not want to watch sanitised cricketers, and fans were getting deprived of some entertainment provided by natural characters.

"But, you want to see that banter out there. You want the play-and-miss, and the bowler comes down the wicket and gives you a stare," Warner continued.

"I feel that sometimes it could be taking away from the viewers, that the viewers love that. You know that when you get out there the crowd gets into it, they enjoy that stuff."

Prior to the World Cup this year, ICC chief executive Dave Richardson said that the governing body are willing to crack down on excessive sledgings between players. While new offenders attracted heavier fines than before, serial offenders could face match suspensions.

In stark contrast with Warner's recent statement, Richardson had said that "the behaviour of some players during matches was deemed to be unacceptable and was not a good example to young fans watching the game."

Sledging has been a part of cricket from many years, but it came back to the spotlight during the 2007-08 India tour of Australia when Harbhajan Singh was accused of racial abuse against Andrew Symonds. Ever since, the Indo-Aus sledging wars have kept continuing.

Warner also registered his name in the infamous list as he got entangled in one of the sledging wars with Indian players, and he also accepts his uncharacteristic behaviour.

"Obviously I put my hand up myself. I've crossed the line here and there and we've got to try and make sure we don't get into confrontations," Warner added. "You've got to be very smart and wise around those umpires because no doubt they're out to get you if you stuff up."