Indian batsman Ravi Ashwin and Australia’s Tim Paine at close quarters during the final day in Sydney. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

It sure was a bad day at the office for Australian Test captain, Tim Paine. Dropped catches, a likely victory that got away, and a sledging incident that, in his own words, ended up making him look like a “fool”.

In the closing stages of the fifth day of the SCG Test on Monday, Paine became involved in an exchange with Indian spinner Ravi Ashwin, whilst the latter was batting. After a bit of back-and-forth, Paine said: “At least my teammates like me, dickhead.” Paine then told Ashwin that even his own teammates thought he was a “goose”.

Not surprisingly, many within the cricket community were lining up to condemn Paine for his sledge fest.

Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar labelled it “nonsense”. “I condemn it. I played against some hard Australian teams, but there was nothing of this nonsense which we are seeing from the Australian captain,” Gavaskar said.

The fact is, while there’s still a place for banter in sport, what we got from Paine was not banter. It was mean-spirited and lacked even a hint of humour.

Sledging should reflect the way we play. It should be playful, creative, witty, funny, and fun. If players think that’s too hard, they should think twice about whether they’re smart enough to open their mouths in the first place.

There’s no shortage of playful sledges that have been delivered and taken with good humour and grace over the years.

Once, in an English county game, bowler Greg Thomas mocked West Indian great Viv Richards after Richards had played and missed several balls in a row.

Thomas informed Richards the ball was “red, round and weighs about five ounces, in case you were wondering”. Richards hit the next ball out of the ground for six, into the nearby River Taff. Turning back to Thomas, he said: “Greg, you know what it looks like, now go find it.”

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Then there was Australia’s own Merv Hughes, who told England’s Graham Gooch after Gooch played and missed at a number of consecutive deliveries: “I’ll get you a piano instead to see if you can play that.”

Those were fun, funny and playful. They uphold the spirit of play and sit in stark contrast to Paine calling Ashwin a dickhead with no friends and even Michael Clarke warning England’s Jimmy Anderson to “get ready for a broken f…ing arm”.

It’s hard to see the fun, humour, wit and playfulness in those mean-spirited sledges. Rather, they are designed to intimidate, belittle, humiliate and demean their opponents, which surely puts them in conflict with the way the “gentlemen’s game” is meant to played.

Witty banter still fits within the spirit of play. Mean-spirited sledging doesn’t. In fact, it corrupts play.

You might argue that the idea of upholding the spirit of play is fanciful and pointlessly romantic, for professional sport is serious, and like it or not, winning matters. You could also argue that because professional sport is now so serious it’s OK to try any legal tactic you can to gain an advantage, sledging included.

This view, of course, is fair enough. But the way you win still matters. The Australian cricket team should know that more than most sporting teams.

Clearly, Paine agrees. Following a night of reflection after the events of Monday afternoon, he called a press conference to apologise for his comments. During the press conference Paine stated he still likes to play the game with a smile on his face. Like most players, he still wants to have fun.

Fingers crossed this means he’ll be smiling more than snarling behind the stumps in the future. Because sport is already serious enough. It doesn’t need to be mean, too.