Ex-Proteas opener Hudson recalls Warne sledging battles: 'The nicest guy off the field'

Andrew Hudson was once on the receiving end of one of Shane Warne's most infamous, most vicious sledges of all time.

Breathing fire, Warne screamed, "**** off. Go on, Hudson, **** off out of here!" at Hudson after bowling the batter around his legs during the first Test in Johannesburg in 1994.

Warne, who wrote about the incident in his book My Autobiography, apologised to Hudson after giving him the "send-off".

Even for the "sledging era", the incident was deemed over-the-top enough to be fined by the match referee and the Australian Cricket Board.

"Today, I still don't know why I did it," Warne confessed.

Hudson said Warne relished that confrontation and wanted to see if he could win the psychological battle before winning the war on the pitch between bat and ball.

And that whatever you did, you needn't have shown him you were rattled.

"He would use sledging [as a tool], and if he rattled you, he would carry on," Hudson tells Sport24.

"But if you ignored him and carried on with your game [you'd be OK]. Some international cricketers used to take him on and get cross and shout back at him.

"In a way, he used to love that because then he knew he was on top and he was winning.

"Some guys used to smile, walk away and just carry on. At the end of the day, your bat must do the talking. If you scored a hundred, then you've won.

"But he was always there to get you out, and he loved it. And he got you out often. He kept reminding you that he got you out often.

"I think cricket would be poorer without someone like Shane Warne. He brought energy, excitement, and he was a skilful player - he talked a good game, and he delivered a good game as well."

READ | Shane Warne and South Africa: A love-hate saga

Warne became the second-highest