Of epithets, monikers and nicknames…

[Zainub]

We know the Australian Cricket team is good at a lot of things; batting, bowling, fielding, sledging, running in between the wickets, forming partnerships, exploiting their opponent’s weaknesses, playing as team, never giving up, always trying to improve and bla bla bla…But I just realized that they are also very good at another thing - giving nick names! Here is a collection of some of the more popular nick names from international cricket. If you know any interesting ones your self, a small message would be very welcome.

Shane Warne’s nick name is Hollywood; it was given to him because he caught everyone's attention in 1993; with his first ball in test cricket in England. He bowled Mike Gating with an unplayable delivery. Shane is sometimes also called “tweak” by his team mates. Colin Miller received his title of Funky in Tasmania, because of his love affair with the Tone Loc hit song Funky Cold Medina. The ageless off-spinner has a compact disc that features the song 12 times in succession, with only the beat of the song changing; faster for dancing, slower for relaxing, and so on.


Australian player Merve Hughes was known as 'Fruit fly' amongst the rest of the team. He was given this name because of his habit of annoying everyone in the dressing rooms, especially during rain delays. Mark Waugh is commonly called Junior but the media gave him a special name - 'Afghanistan' (as in the 'forgotten Waugh') in the late 1980s. His brother Steve is popularly known as Tugga though sometimes he has also been referred to as “The Iceman”. The nickname of wicket keeping great Rod Marsh was Bacchus. Bacchus Marsh is a town in Victoria, Australia. He was also known as 'Iron Gloves'. Former Australian captain Allan Border was sometimes known as "Captain Grumpy". His team mates called him “AB”. Captain Grumpy was more of a media invention



'Dizzy' is the nickname of Jason Gillespie.; after the famous musician. The nickname of Glenn McGrath is Pigeon so called because of his skinny legs, though sometimes he is also called “Enforcer”. Former Australian captain Mark Taylor has had several nicknames over his playing career. He was christened 'Helium Bat' very early in his career by team mates, due to his habit of lifting his bat over his shoulder and letting anything bowled outside the off-stump go by. Later on Mark Taylor was also called Tubby. Shane Warne was responsible for Ricky Ponting's label Punter, because of his love for having a flutter on the greyhound races. Brag Hogg is called Blight, Bevan is called the “Terminator”, Brett Lee is known as Binger while Harvey is “freak”.



Team physio Errol Alcott's nickname is Hooter. He was given the name because he once said he wished someone would blow a hooter and end the game. He was a Rugby league follower up until he joined the team in the 1980s, and was watching his first cricket game that was ending in a tame draw. Australian fitness co-ordinater Steve Smith is known as Tattoo as he has several, including ones celebrating series victories over South Africa and England. Even the Australian team mascot has a name, he is called Skimpy. It is a kangaroo that is dressed like an Aussie player!



However the Aussies are not the only ones good at the art of giving nick names; the English are not far behind in the race. Marcus Trescothick is known as Banger, Alec Stewart is Gaffer and the ever popular Ian Botham is known as Beefy. Daren Gough is known as Rhino and sometimes Dazzler. Michel Vaughan is known as Virgil while fast bowler Andrew Caddick is called “caddy shack”. Crag White gets the name “chalky”. The English have also given names to some Indian players. Player turned umpire S.Venkat Raghvan was called “run the wagon” by English players because they couldn’t pronounce his name. Similar was the case with another Indian player Anil Kumble who was called 'Apple Crumble' by English cricketers; Indian players call him 'Jumbo'



The West Indians have also given some very interesting nick names to their players over the years. Batting maestro Clive Lloyd was known as 'Black Cat' and 'Super Cat’. Michel Holding was given the name "Whispering Death" while Sir. Vivian Richards was called ‘king’ and Joel Garner was called Big Bird. Cricket fans from all over the world have also given some very amorous nick names to their favorite players. Lance Klusener was given the nick “Zulu” while Allan Donald is famous as the white lightening. Sachin who was initially given the name "Master Blaster" is now more famous as the little master. The name little master was originally given to another Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar by the press and media.



Zaheer Abbas’s fans often called him 'Asia's Bradman'. Sourav Ganguly is rightly called the “The Prince of Calcutta" and Rahul Dravid is known as “the wall”. Kapil Dev was cheered as the "Haryana Express” while Venkatpathy Raju was called "Muscles". Harbajjan Singh has been given the name “Turbanator”. Pakistani pacers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Sami are respectively called the Rawalpindi and Karachi Express while Waqar Younus is called "Buruwela Bomber” by his team mates. Sanath Jayasuriya is known as "Mantara Mauler" while his fellow countryman Muttiah Muralitharan is famous by the name "Smiling Assassin". But out of all the various nick names given to so many players my personal favorite is “Mad Max” given to the Sri Lankan legend Aravinda Desilva.



So one can see that nicknames for an integral part of the cricket lexicon, some players’ nicknames become so popular, that they are recognized more by their pet names then their actual names, for me, it’s just one of the so many reasons that keeps me interested in what is globally perceived as a fairly dull sport.

[Whips_off_the_bails]

Andrew Flintoff is known as Freddie, after the Flintstones character. But also as Godzilla (at least he was before his weight loss - I wonder if he's still called that).

Andrew Strauss is known as Lord Brockett, apparently because he has a posh accent.

Brett Lee is known as Bing, but also as Oswald. This came about when Steve Waugh read out the team sheet, on which Brett's brother Shane was followed by all-rounder Ian Harvey and Brett himself. Instead of reading Lee-Harvey-Lee he substituted "Oswald" at the end.

Michael Atherton was known to Australians as the cockroach - because no matter how many times you stamp on him, he won't die.

Wasim Akram was known as the Sultan of Swing for obvious reasons.

Aravinda da Silva was known as Mad Max (don't know why).

Going back into history, "the period before the First World War was not only a Golden Age for cricket; it was a great period for cricketers' nicknames. The cast list included `The Croucher' (Gilbert Jessop), `The Shrimp' (Henry Leveson-Gower) and `Round-the-Corner' (Aubrey – later Sir Aubrey – Smith). Yet all were trumped by Charles Burgess Fry. By his early 20s the future England captain had already been acclaimed as `Lord Oxford', `Charles III' and, simply, `Almighty'." (From Wisden)

[Miss Hit]

Originally Posted by Zainub Razvi

Venkatpathy Raju was called "Muscles".

Thats my favorite


Kumble is known as Jumbo - the big guy of indian cricket
Dravid as Jammy and now as 'The Wall'
Ganguly is more affectionately known as Dada - i belive thats bengali
McMillan as Macca
Harbhajan as Bhajji or the Turbanator - after his turban and his series against ozzies.

[Zainub]

· Chris Read’s nick name is Lambchop, no clues why.



· During his early days, Christopher Lance Cairns was criticized by journalists for having an indifferent towards his profession, which led his team mates to christen him with the nick name BA which is short for ‘Bad Attitude’.

[Zainub]

This is one is the most intriguing one I've found out to date: Adam Gilchrist is sometimes called 'Eric Gilcher'. And that's because a he was once approached by a young kid who stammered while speaking, he came up to him and said "Can I have your autograph Mr. Eric Gilcher?"

[Oliver]

Originally Posted by Whips_off_the_bails

Yet all were trumped by Charles Burgess Fry. By his early 20s the future England captain had already been acclaimed as `Lord Oxford', `Charles III' and, simply, `Almighty'." (From Wisden)

Perhaps it should be added here that CB Fry once held the World Long Jump record. He played football for Arsenal (I think) and was a double international at both sports.

Curiously, presumably because he was an all round jolly good chap, he was also offered the throne of Albania.

He declined it.

Regarding nicknames...I still like Brian Johnson's offering for Indian spin bowler Maninder Singh: "Maninder Water."
It offered a goon type view into Johnson's sense of humour...and for that it is memorable.