10 of Cricket's Biggest Strops

Imagine the scene: 36 years ago, on 23 September, 1979, Australia's Rodney Hogg is no-balled for the 11th time in six overs during a Test match between India and Australia at Bangalore.

Instead of returning back to his mark and trying again, in a fit of rage, the firebrand paceman bizarrely kicks down the stumps!

While this remarkable strop has become the stuff of legend in cricket circles, it is far from an isolated incident in a sport that lends itself to explosions of frustration and exasperation.

So here are 10 other memorable incidents that, for various reasons, resulted in tempers boiling over and can certainly be characterised as a strop. Enjoy.

1. Michael Holding

In a similar incident to "Hogg-gate", Michael Holding, these days, a laid-back presence in the Sky Sports commentary booth, wasn't quite as placid on the West Indies' tour of New Zealand in 1980.

The legendary fast bowler seemingly enticed the Black Caps' John Parker to edge a ball behind, only for Kiwi umpire John Hastie to turn down the appeal.

Holding's frustrations boiled over and he marched down to the batsman's end before emphatically kicking two of the stumps into the stratosphere.

This unsavoury incident, for which a later embarrassed Holding went unpunished for, set the tone for what was to become one of the most bad-tempered series of all time.

2. Ricky Ponting

After being crucially run out in the 2005 Ashes at Trent Bridge, England, Ricky Ponting's vociferous meltdown as he left the field of play earns him a spot on this list.

With the series tantalisingly poised, Damien Martyn had called his skipper through for a tight single only for Gary Pratt, England's 12th man, to swoop like a hawk and slickly throw down the stumps.

Ponting's disappointment turned to rage as he returned to the pavilion, unleashing a volley of X-rated abuse towards the home side's dressing room about their controversial use of substitute fielders to rest their pace bowlers.

While the Tasmanian may have had a point, this incident revealed that the normally impregnable Aussies were struggling with the pressure and, a few weeks later, England would secure a historic Ashes victory.

3. David Lloyd

Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

David Lloyd, one of cricket's great eccentric's, oversaw some decent results and introduced elements of professionalism that are commonplace today during his tenure as England coach.

However, the always passionate Bumble was also capable of an emotional outburst or two, non-more-so than after his team's historic draw with Zimbabwe.

In what was a fairly fractious tour anyway, England's failure to chase down 205 from 37 overs to win the 1st Test led Lloyd to exclaim "we murdered 'em, we flipping murdered 'em," as reported by the Guardian.

The ensuing media storm led to English Cricket Board head honcho Lord MacLaurin flying out to Africa in order to issue a severe reprimand.

4. Pakistan

MAX NASH/Associated Press

Pakistan threw a team-wide strop during their 2006 clash against England at the Oval, London, and became the first team to lose a Test match by it being awarded to the other side in the sport's history.

Midway through England's second innings, umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove ruled that the visitors had been tampering with the ball and awarded the hosts five runs.

This set in motion a chain of events that culminated in Inzamam-ul-Haq's seething charges refusing to take the field after tea in protest at the decision.

Eventually, Pakistan did take to the field but, by then, the contest had already been abandoned and the result awarded to England.

5. Nasser Hussain

During his playing days, Nasser Hussain's passionate and fiery temper often rose to the surface, but never as publicly as it did during a 2002 ODI against India.

The England skipper had been under pressure after refusing to drop down the batting order in the face of heavy criticism from the Sky Sports commentators that he scored too slowly.

However, Hussain did react when he scored a 118-ball century at Lord's and celebrated by pointedly signalling "three" directly to the occupants of the Media Centre.

See also: Denesh Ramdin, who made a similar gesture in 2012 in the face of criticism from Viv Richards, but went one step further and produced a piece of paper with a message when reaching his ton.

6. WG Grace

Tom Shaw/Getty Images

Even non cricket fans recognise the larger than life figure of WG Grace, whose legendary exploits and epic, flowing beard are synonymous with the sport.

However, while his skills on the pitch produced nearly 55,000 runs and more than 2,800 wickets, the good doctor was also more than capable of throwing his toys out of the pram when it suited him.

As retold by the Independent here, the most famous occasion occurred when Grace was dismissed in a match, only for him to simply replace the bails and tell the umpire, "They've come to watch me bat, not you umpire."

7. Kieron Pollard

Passions often run high on the cricket field, but the cauldron-like atmosphere of the IPL ramps the adrenaline up even higher, as evidenced by this recent incident that wouldn't have been out of place at WrestleMania.

The normally affable duo of Kieron Pollard and Mitchell Starc had been winding each other up throughout the latter's spell during Royal Challengers Bangalore's clash with Mumbai Indians with a typical exchange of views.

But when Starc continued with his delivery and nearly struck the West Indian all-rounder, who had already stepped away from the crease, Pollard almost lost if and threatened to throw his bat at the Australian.

Fortunately, he stopped himself at the last second and the bat flew off harmlessly in another direction, leaving both players unscathed but most likely embarrassed by their childish actions.

8. Ben Stokes

Tim Ireland/Associated Press

While the summer of 2015 signalled the much-anticipated arrival of Ben Stokes onto the international scene, it might have happened a lot earlier if the youngster had managed to keep his cool in the Caribbean last March.

After being dismissed for a golden duck in a relatively innocuous T20 International against the West Indies at Bridgetown, the talented all-rounder reacted by angrily punching a locker in the dressing room.

The diagnosis revealed that Stokes had fractured his hand, ruling him out of the World T20 competition and setting his career back a number of months.

Maybe just count to 10 next time Ben...

9. Australia

Rick Rycroft/Associated Press

When four of Australia's players failed to complete a routine "homework" task during the Baggy Green's tour of India in 2011, a mild slap across the wrists perhaps would've been sufficient.

Instead, the Aussie hierarchy harshly suspended Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, James Pattinson and Usman Khawaja for the next Test, which Australia went on to lose.

While a few people thought the hard-line decision was correct, most, including the likes of Mark Waugh and Darren Lehman, denounced the move as an over-the-top reactionary response.

As per this BBC article, cricket commentator Jim Maxwell perhaps summed up the move most succinctly, "The cricket world is laughing at Australia's embarrassment".

10. Geoff Boycott

CLAUDE PARIS/Associated Press

And finally, it's little surprise to find Geoffrey Boycott closing out this list, with the opinionated run-machine ruffling the feathers of opponents, team-mates and cricket followers alike throughout his career.

True, the Yorkshire-great scored over 8,000 Test runs for England, but it could have been more had he not quit the team in 1974.

While Boycs claimed the exile was due to a loss of appetite for Test cricket, as per this article on Cricket Country, "It was rumoured that his decision was because of being overlooked for captaincy."

Like one of his innings, Boycott's strop lasted for an eternity (three years) until he eventually returned to the fold in 1977, scoring an emphatic century against the Australians at Trent Bridge.