Mumbai, Aug 22: Former West Indies cricket captain Clive Lloyd today joined Sunil Gavaskar in condemning sledging and called for stricter rules to curb the on-field abuse before it turned more "ugly". "I fully support Gavaskar's views on sledging," Llyod told here joining the debate triggered off by the speech of former Indian skipper at Lord's during the Colin Cowdrey lecture recently.
"Gavaskar might have made those comments after watching the West Indies-Australia test series recently where there were more than a couple of ugly scenes involving the players," the West Indies great said.
"The ICC's code of conduct has clear rules for sledging and match referees must make it very clear to the rival captains to follow the code strictly or else face the consequences," said Lloyd who is here for a promotional campaign of a sports channel.
Lloyd said it was the responsibility of the big teams to set an example by their on-field behaviour.

"If sledging continues unabated, it might turn ugly in future. For example if a senior cricketing nation indulges in sledging while playing minnows Bangladesh, then the greenhorns will be demoralised completely and may not perform to their full potential.

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"Instead of sledging it would be better if players from senior cricketing sides help out young sides like Bangladesh so that they too can become a force to reckon with in future," Lloyd, who is also an ICC match referee, said.

Bureau Report