During the early part of the 1960s, skilled British workers were being wooed by the Australian government to increase the skill levels in the Australian workforce. The carrot was a ten pound airfare to take potential customers away from the cold and grey leaden skies of England, to the possibility of a better, warmer, and more open air lifestyle down under.

And so it was, that in 1964, my parents, two older brothers and I, became "£10 Poms". We settled in Adelaide, spent five happy years there before returning in 1969. Forty four years later and here I am, returning for the first time, sat in the fabulous new "Adelaide Oval" watching England wither to a three hundred odd run defeat, to go two nil down in the series.

Two topics of conversation have dominated within the many bars and restaurants of this delightful city since England's crushing loss in the first test in Brisbane. Trotts early return home I have already touched on in a previous column, and the other one is the war of words between the two sides. Sledging, mental disintegration, call it what you want, but has it a place at the table of international cricket ? From within the game views are polarised, as are the views of the media, and from the stands and grass terraces; it has always been part and parcel of the game; hasn't it?

The growing clamour from cricket fans to sit in front of their television sets and get closer to the action, has brought some of the more unsavoury incidents which occur in the heat of the battle into our living rooms; not just visibly, but more worryingly audibly as well.

My problem with the whole sledging debate is that in my role as a coach, I can regularly see the same antics being played out on the school playing fields and club grounds up and down the country. The displays of verbal aggression and childish staring competitions, have undoubtably come from the professional game at the highest level and have been broadcast to all and sundry through the wonder of modern television and technology.

It is from within this environment where, I believe that the real harm from the players behaviour occurs. Some Sky TV and Australian Channel 9 presenters and pundits are saying "yeah it's fine", "let them get on with it", "they're professional competitive adults, so that's fine". Now I do have some sympathy with these views, because it can be compelling viewing, but when you see eleven or twelve year old kids mirroring Mitchell Johnson and Jimmy Anderson to name but two, I fear the line has been crossed.

Also in the professional game, the umpires are generally well respected; unfortunately their amateur counterparts are not always afforded the same courtesy and a volley of verbal abuse can sometimes be aimed at these officials after a perceived wrong decision. Let's remember that these guys umpire because they love the game and are rewarded with nothing more than beer money. Should they have to put up with this abuse? Of course not, but I fear that if this series continues in the same hostile manner, with the threats of broken arms and the spilling of some bad blood, come the summer of 2014, it will have a detrimental effect on the game of cricket up and down the country.

The professional game has a duty to the rest of the cricket playing world at school and club levels, to show them the way. They should be showing other cricketers at whatever level, that they can be aggressive quick bowlers without resorting to a thirty second staring contest after every ball. They should be showing other cricketers that you can be a strong captain without threatening to break a fellow players arm, and that you can play hard and fair on the field and still share a beer, or in the case of the schools, an orange juice and a biscuit, after the dust has settled.

Every player can find an expletive or two to throw at the opposition, but not everyone is capable of performing with the high skill levels of these test players and it is these very skills that I would like to see dominating our tv screens at home.

Back to the cricket and we move onto Perth and the WACA. England have a mountain to climb and from where I have been sat for the last five days I have very strong doubts that they are mentally in the right place to climb that mountain; but at least they showed a little more fight in the second innings after a totally inept performance in the first innings. Let's hope they can continue with the recovery and put a little smile on the many England supporters who have made the long journey out here.