Australia vs West Indies - Five nastiest altercations

When Kieron Pollard attempted to throw his bat at Mitchell Starc, it wasn't the first time an Australian and West Indian have gone at it on the cricket pitch. Far from it, these two great cricketing nations have had plenty of squabbles in the past. Here are five occasions whenthe rivalry between the two nations had gotten out of hand and broke into a fight.

#1 Malcolm Marshall vs David Boon Brisbane, 1984/85

Ask anybody who watched cricket in the 1980s and they would tell you that West Indies had a plethora of tall, scary fast bowlers. Among them, Malcolm Marshall is widely regarded by many as the scariest of them all and that is telling something. So, it is fair to say that he isn’t exactly the bowler you’d want bowling, when you are coming in to play your debut test.

But that is precisely what happened to David Boon in second Test at Brisbane during West Indies’ 1984/85 tour of Australia. Not only was Marshall quick, he was also a feisty character as well. When the Tasmanian walked out to bat, he was undeniably a little iffy. After a few hits and misses, the West Indian had this to say "Now David, are you going to get out now or am I going to have to bowl around the wicket and kill you?" Now, if that wasn’t a nightmare debut test, then I don’t know what is.

#2 Steve Waugh vs Curtly Ambrose Trinidad, 1995

Standing at just 168 cm tall, it is was somewhat surprising that a relatively slight Steve Waugh decided to take on the giant that was Curtly Ambrose. Especially given the fact that the West Indies were undefeated in their previous 16 Test series and were looking to continue to same when Australia came to the Caribbean in 1995.

Standing at 201 cm tall, the West Indian peppered the former Australian captain Steve Waugh with a flurry of short balls. After one such delivery, the fast bowler had one glance at Waugh. By then, Waugh who had enough, asked him, "What the f--- are you looking at?" although the West Indian told Waugh to not 'cuss' him, the confrontation got ugly and it required captain Richie Richardson to break it up. So what happened the very next ball? An even quicker ball was directed right past his nose. Now, we know who won.

#3 Glenn McGrath vs Ramnaresh Sarwan Antigua, 2003

In the middle of highest successful run chase in Test history was one of the most heated sledging contests to have ever happened on a cricket pitch. Chasing a mammoth 417 in the fourth test at Antigua, Sarwan was on his way to one of his finest knocks ever when all of this happened. With the match seemingly lost, McGrath tried to gain the psychological advantage, but it all backfired.

After calling Sarwan a “Pussy” once he started playing defensively, McGrath went one step further when he condescendingly quipped, "What does Brian Lara's d--k taste like?” for which Sarwan immediately replied "I don't know, ask your wife," And that was when the 6 foot 5 Australian erupted and started hurling expletives at the 21-year-old Sarwan.

For, McGrath's wife Jane was sick with cancer and Sarwan’s reply offended him deeply. And it took the umpire and several other players to ensure that McGrath didn’t rip Sarwan’s head off.

#4 Chris Gayle vs Michael Clarke Mumbai, 2006

It wasn’t just the test matches in which the brawls broke out, even in ODIs the intense rivalry continued. In a Champions Trophy game between the two sides, another chapter in the Australia-West Indies sledging contest was written. With the game in the balance and Clarke looking like he was going to steer Australia home, Chris Gayle started to shadow Clarke like a defender marking his man and didn’t let him go.

During his shadow walking, in which he nudged, pointed, glared and even leaned over his shoulder, the West Indian reportedly called the Australian “second-class”. After that he even proceeded to throw the ball at Clarke, but missed and it went for four overthrows. Gayle was also fined 30 percent of his match fee. But it wasn’t all bad for Gayle as his team won by 10 runs.

#5 Marlon Samuels vs Shane Warne Melbourne, 2013

A retired Australian cricketer and a current West Indian player playing in a T20 domestic game in Australia is the last place you’d expect a two-and-a-half decade long rivalry to continue. But that was just what happened as Shane Warne of the Melbourne Stars went toe-to-toe with Marlon Samuels of the Melbourne Renegades.

Having previously angered the hosts by grabbing David Hussey as he was about run a second during the Stars’ innings, Samuels was in the thick of the action once again with the bat in hand. It reached a tipping point when Warne threw the ball at Samuels after fielding the ball from close range. After which Samuels threw the bat over Warne’s head and the umpires had to come in to calm the situation.

So it is fair to say that, irrespective of the format or where they are playing, there is no love lost between both the Australians and West Indies.