The sledging issue drags on

With the summer of cricket being largely anti-climactic in Australia, a slight New Zealand revival was always in danger of being over-hyped by an Aussie press desperate to find something interesting to say. So the Aussie papers have leapt on Lou Vincent's comments about the Aussie sledgers "hunting like a pack of dogs" like, well, a pack of dogs. As the coverage drags into its third day the Age drags out Matthew Hayden and Stuart Clark to talk about the issue while the Australian quizzes Ricky Ponting.

Not that John Bracewell seems bothered by all the talk. In fact, I would consider his response almost brilliantly diplomatic, admitting their is some merit in Vincent's words but at the same time effectively toning them down by replacing "arrogant" with "confident":

We all know the Australian side are extremely confident people in their cricket. Their record suggests they're allowed to be confident.

"They want us to be a strong cricketing nation, they're doing everything they can to help us do that. Playing against the best in the world, a confident team, is only going to help us."

What on earth is happening to the world? First Richard Boock admits he is wrong, and then John Bracewell morphs into a honey-tongued diplomat. At this rate, don't be too surprised to see England thrash Australia on Friday.