Justin Langer on one sledge in his career that crossed the line

New Australian cricket coach Justin Langer. Photo / Getty

New Australian Cricket coach Justin Langer has revealed which sledge he heard during his career that he felt crossed the line.

There will be plenty of interest into which approach the Australian team will take to sledging under Langer following calls from Cricket Australia to change the culture after the ball-tampering scandal.

Langer played 105 tests for Australia in a career that included 360 first class games. He said in a press conference yesterday there were two incidences in his career where sledging got really personal and it crossed the line.

"I think back to there was one with Glenn McGrath with [Ramnaresh] Sarwan in the West Indies that was a very sensitive time for Pigeon at the time but it probably crossed the line and there was consequences for that."

In the 2003 test at St John's, Sarwan made a comment about McGrath's wife Jane. She was battling cancer at the time and died five years later.

An incensed McGrath approached Sarwan saying "If you ever f***ing mention my wife again I'll f***ing rip your f***ing throat out!". Langer had to separate Sarwan from McGrath.

Yesterday Langer said sledges can't be personal and he will focus on drawing a clear line between personal assaults and good banter.

"October every year I read the same headlines and I laugh ... every team that comes over and they say 'how are you going to combat the Australian sledging?'

"And they say 'we're not going to be afraid of Australian sledging' and it's great headlines.

"We've always played hard, I think some of the best banter's among each other to try and get the opposition thinking about other things, but that mental toughness is about being 100 percent focused on the next ball.

"We all know what the accepted behaviours there are. There's a difference between competitiveness and aggression and we've got to be careful with that."