Cricket - It's a funny old game

Cricket - It's a funny old game

Saturday, January 29, 2011

The Beige Archives: Aussie fans lament poor cricketer names

This article first appeared on the BBC's 606 forum on the 6th of August 2009.

Australian cricket fans have admitted that the lack of punning opportunities within their Test squad has dented the hopes of Australia retaining the Ashes.

“We’ve gone a long time with some great players whose names have inspired some excellent newspaper headlines and banners at the ground” said an Australian fan after the Edgbaston test, “and that has helped us be so dominant as a nation for so long”.

Whereas Australia used to be able to always rely on a quick joke using the names of Waugh, Border and Warne, the current crop of Katich, Clarke and Hilfenhaus aren’t proving to be the world beaters the Australian fans and players are used to.

“Through-out the 80’s and 90’s we had the measure of England,” said Australian captain Ricky Ponting “when they struggled with the likes of Atherton, Gooch and Stewart. But now they have Cook, Swann, Bell and Onions and it is just killing us”.

Ponting has been criticised in recent months for his lack of inspiration in his selections with some commentators saying he relied on Warne for too long and now the frailties in the remainder of the side have been exposed.

Cricket Australia was quick to deny that they had hired a large team of linguists to try to get any comedy mileage out of the names of Hauritz and Manou, but there have been reports of young Queensland fast bowler Gavin Wynne-D’Ashes being considered for the fifth test.

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