Smith claimed Warne was particularly harsh

"It's unfair because I didn't see or hear anyone step over the mark the whole time I was there," Maher said on Thursday.

"You're representing your country and it's hard cricket.

"You're not going to give a bloke a Kit Kat and a can of Coke when he comes out to bat and say 'I hope you have a great time'.

"I've had things said to me before and I take it with a pinch of salt because I've get more important things to focus on."

Smith said Hayden followed him to the crease at Cape Town and "stood on the crease for about two minutes telling me that I wasn't good enough".

Mid-pitch collision

He also claimed fast bowler Lee had threatened to "kill me" after a mid-pitch collision and even claimed McGrath, whom Smith described as a "grumpy old man", subjected him to verbal taunts from the third man boundary.

Smith said the ring of Australia's close-in fielders were incessant in their verbal barrages, invariably using expletives to strengthen their invectives.

After one Warne diatribe, Smith said he looked to umpire Rudi Koertzen for support "and he just shrugged his shoulders as if to say, 'I know it's rough, kid, but that's the way it is'."

Australia are infamous for their sledging, but Steve Waugh prefers to call it "mental disintegration" and sees it as tactical.

Australian Cricket Board (ACB) chief executive James Sutherland said that while the Board "does not condone sledging or verbal abuse", it felt that the International Cricket Council's player code of conduct were adequate to ensure the practice was kept in check.

"If Australian players are breaking the code of conduct, I'm sure officials at the match would take appropriate action," he said.

Smith's accusations came just days after Gilchrist was brought into the dock for saying Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was a 'chucker'.