New Delhi - Australian pace bowler Brett Lee said on Monday that on-field banter among rival cricket players should not be called sledging, since that misses the often friendly nature of the dialogue.
"It's a sort of friendly banter that goes on between the batsmen, bowlers and fielders. We like to call it gamesmanship," said the spearhead, among the fastest bowlers in contemporary cricket.
Sledging is on-field verbal comment intended to disrupt the concentration of rival players. The International Cricket Council asked umpires last year to crack down on sledging and obscene language on the field.
Australian cricketers are said to be cricket's biggest sledgers, but Lee disagrees.
"We won't acknowledge that we sledge," said Lee, in India on a business visit as a brand ambassador for a watch company.
"We Aussies play cricket hard and fair, and we always have a few tricks up our sleeves," he told reporters.
Lee, a member of the Australian team that retained the World Cup trophy in South Africa last year, said, "We know the lines we have to stay behind. We know the consequences if we step over this line."
"Most cricketers around the world have done a good job staying within limits," he said.
Lee said he was looking forward to playing his first Test match in India when the Australian team visits for a four-Test series in October.
"I realise the Aussies haven't won a Test series in India for a long, long time. We're very keen to do it this year," he said.
India has proved to be a tough assignment for Australia since Bill Lawry's team clinched the 1969-70 series 3-1.
Host India won four of the five subsequent home Test series against Australia, and drew the one in 1986.
In 2001, India stopped Australia's record 16-Test winning sequence to emerge victors in two successive matches and claim the series 2-1.
Lee's shoulder injury forced him out of the 2001 tour to India, and a heel injury kept him off the Australian team that won a one-day tri-series in India last year.
Lee is currently sidelined from competitive matches due to a persistent ankle problem, but said he should be fit by October.
The ankle injury has ruled him out of touring Zimbabwe, a visit that has courted controversy as Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's regime has been accused of human rights abuses.
Australian leg-spinner Stuart MacGill last month made himself unavailable for the tour, asserting he did not believe he could tour Zimbabwe and maintain a clear conscience.
"I applaud Stuart for standing up and speaking his mind," said Lee, adding that he did not have to make a decision on whether or not to tour Zimbabwe due to his ankle injury.