London: James Anderson has called on both sides to ditch the verbals and cut out 'sledging' during the upcoming Ashes series between England and Australia.


James Anderson. Pic/AFP 

New Zealand have just completed a tour of England which, although it ended in a 56-run Twenty20 defeat at Old Trafford on Tuesday, the Black Caps won praise both for the quality of their cricket and the way in which they conducted themselves on the field. Significantly, they showed it was possible to play aggressive cricket without resorting to 'sledging' -- verbal abuse of opposition players -- and their approach had the knock-on effect of improving England's behaviour as well.