Cricket chiefs have called on match officials to clamp down on sledging and slow over rates.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has written to umpires and referees asking them to be “assertive and proactive” to help cricket maintain its feelgood factor. He has urged players, especially captains, to help ensure the game is played in the right spirit.

The final day of England's First Test against India saw visiting skipper Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff clash with Yuvraj Singh. But that was the only sour point of a thrilling Test match, played just weeks after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Both teams were praised for putting on a memorable spectacle and Lorgat wants cricket to build on that.

He said: “After the Test match in Chennai there is a real feelgood factor about the game, and rightly so. Verbal abuse and slow over rates have the potential to impact negatively on the way the game is perceived.”