England pace spearhead James Anderson has backed on-field sledging in cricket, saying that the aggression is essential for ensuring an entertaining game.
Earlier in the week, Cricket's governing body the ICC had warned players to refrain from on-field verbal spats as it would not be tolerated in the upcoming World Cup, which gets underway from February 14 in Australia and New Zealand.
Defending sledging, Anderson said that he didn't think it should disappear from the game, adding that it was quite entertaining when it was done in the right manner, the BBC reported.
The pace bowler was cleared of a serious misconduct charge last summer following an incident with Ravindra Jadeja at Trent Bridge.
Anderson further said that he didn't think at the moment there was any more sledging than there had been in the history of cricket, adding that players had to be a bit smart about what was said on the field, if anything was said at all, the report added.
England will open their World Cup campaign on February 14 against Australia in Melbourne.