Fuck off, says Graeme Swann

After almost 24 hours without a wicket, post-lunch, following a 167-run stand during which the batsmen had, according to the game analyst, played and missed at or edged almost 10 per cent of the balls they faced, coming to the end of a 49 over spell on a road of a pitch in the Chittagong heat, Graeme Swann got Junaid Siddique out. And then told him to 'fuck off'.

It might not have been gentlemanly. It lacked a little decorum. Maybe there was a touch of hubris about it. But it was understandable. It wasn't crime of the century. In fact, the only reason we knew about it was the stump mic.

The players are entitled to a bit of privacy out in the middle, strange as that seems in the era of super slo-mo and High Definition and mic-ed up fielders. There is an internal code amongst them, in terms of what they say and how they say it. They're human beings. They have the right to tell one another to fuck off every now and again without the world demanding an explanation.Or folks posting odds on the number of profanities used. It's one area of the game that the players should be allowed to police themselves.

New Zealand players have apparently decided that sledging Michael Clarke about his break-up with his fiancee won't happen, partly because Clarke isn't a sledger himself. That seems right, somehow. Players pretty much know where the limits are, and there will be plenty willing to tell Swanny to fuck off on occasion.