Does Chris Gayle's make him the coolest man in cricket? Has Kevin Pietersen been trying to look older? Will Colly ever grow one or is the gingeritus the issue?
What am I talking about now? Beards of course and the power of the beard. With my hat tipped firmly to the great and much missed TMS statistician, Bill Frindall, I want to celebrate that much maligned cricketing facial accessory the extended moustache, the beard.
Think back in time and try and remember the great and the good cricketing beards - it is tough. Moustaches are easy just think of the England and Kiwi cricket teams in the eighties and you are nearly at a full Test XI, let alone the one and only David Boon. But beards, well that is quite another thing entirely. It is almost as bad as thinking up a ginger XI and no, I am not entirely obsessed by ginger cricketers...
Anyway, so far I have KP, Mike Gatting, Chris Gayle, not Merv Hughes (even though it was such a cracking moustache it almost covered his whole chin), W.G. Grace of course, Monty Panaesar, Hashim Amla (who apparently does sport a beard and doesn't just have his head on upside down) but who else?? I know there are more and whilst I try and think of them, I also have am trying to work out why ...
What makes a man grow a beard? Are they hiding? Are they storing food away in a similar way to the great Mr Twit, or are they just lazy and fancy a change? I am going to spend the cricketing winter and summer trying to work this out, amongst all of the other 'why are boys so odd?' questions that cricket generates and will come back in due course....
1 comment:
Surely IT Botham should feature in your bearded XI - great beard!
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