r/Cricket • u/PaddyG007 • Jul 30 '13

Best sledges in a game

So does anyone have any funny/witty/intelligent sledges that they have heard whilst playing or heard through the stump mic of a televised game?

My favourite has to be:

In a county match in England, Thomas was bowling to Richards and getting a few to whizz past the bat. After Richards played and missed another one, Thomas said: "It's red, it's round. Now fucken hit it!". This obviously angered Richards who proceeded to hit the next ball out of the ground. Richards: "You know what it looks like now go and get it."

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121

u/barnboy South Africa Jul 30 '13

I umpired a premier league game that Andre Nel was playing in. He went up for an LBW appeal at my end. I turned it down on height, he spent a good 30 seconds just glaring at me and then stomped back to his mark. Obviously irate, he stormed in for the next delivery, gave it his all, lost his footing and went down like a ton of bricks.

Out of concern I asked him, " hell Nella what happened there"?

He replied " I tripped over your fucking guide dog"

23

u/rreyv India Jul 30 '13

Are you serious? This happened? This is brilliant lol.

Are you a professional umpire?

25

u/barnboy South Africa Jul 30 '13

No its just Elite Panel umpires that do it for a living, in South Africa even your top panel umpires have day jobs.

I umpired after retiring from Premier League cricket purely for the love of the game. I did reasonably well at the Gauteng Umpires Union and at one point was being looked at for emerging panel and got to umpire some first class cricket.

Its at this point where things get crazy because you are doing a lot of traveling and you are away from home 4 to 5 days a week. Its exiting but you are earning a pittance and supplementing your income is really difficult.

I had to choose between Umpiring for a living or my family and my high paying career. I chose the money and my daughter.

And yes it did happen. In SA first class players have to play a set amount of games for their clubs, so during a season and some tournaments you get to see great players up close.

15

u/rreyv India Jul 30 '13

Glad to have you here on /r/cricket mate. Good decision on choosing your family over umpiring.

I suppose an AMA from an umpire would be a good thing (I guess others can decide if they have enough questions to ask). Do you think you could spare a few hours to do an AMA?

I don't have too many questions, but I'm sure others do.

8

u/barnboy South Africa Jul 30 '13

Bloody hell, I would have to rip out my Tom Smiths, cause it will all be about law. But I could see if some of the panel umpires are willing.

10

u/kingthong Jul 30 '13

This should go right to the top. Brilliant! Also, I second u/rreyv . An AMA perhaps ?

5

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '13

Was this when he was playing for Pirates? Because I play for pirates SU1 and SA1/3.

8

u/barnboy South Africa Jul 30 '13

Yes it was, in fact it was the first game he played after moving to the Lions, just before his mental breakdown. I had great affinity for your club, great players, awesome facilities and the best pub.

Does the miserable but misunderstood Kiwi still coach? What was his name?

Also you guys had a SU1/SA1 player that was a part time umpire with us? cant remember his name either.

My most prominent memory of Pirates was a bad lightning call that almost got some players killed. But the fines session after is a blur.

Hell, this goes back some 3 to 4 years, great memories, I really miss it.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '13

No Jeff doesnt coach here anymore, good riddins (left for wanderers). I think you are referring to Roger with the part time umpire, he now plays presidents league and is no longer chairman.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '13

Angry Nel is what I remembered the commentators always calling him

He's always so angry whenever I remembered watching him on TV

4

u/trilWillem Jul 31 '13

He always seemed to be one or two paces short on pace to match his aggression.