Rod Marsh nickname is Bacchus. The story behind the nickname was that it was after the town 50km North West of Melbourne called Bacchus Marsh. Travelling on a train with his Western Australian team mates from Adelaide to Melbourne, the train stopped at Bacchus Marsh and Ian Brayshaw promptly stated Rod, you'll now be known as Bacchus.
Nicknames for whatever reason are what we do with people’s name. Some are funny, some are subtle other are cheekily rude. Many are obvious and some are best left to the imagination.
Looking up the meaning of Nickname in the dictionary and you’ll read:
“A familiar or humorous name given to a person or thing instead of or as well as the real name”
We’ve cast the net across the cricket community for great nicknames and the stories behind them. We will continue to add new nicknames and their stories as they are presented
Let’s see what we caught so far.
Name - Jeremy Bray, former Ireland opening batsman and played NSW Premier Cricket
Nickname - Words
Story - Jeremy was well known for his talkative nature
Name - Mal Gorham
Nickname - Pencil
Story - Mal was Western Suburbs in Sydney first grade scorer for over 30 years
Name - James Le Huray, played for Randwick Petersham in Sydney
Nickname - Hip Hip
Story - 😉
Name - Andrew Hilditch, NSW, South Australia, Australia
Nickname - Soda
Story - South Australian team mates thought he was a great mixer
Name - Mark Eaton, South Australia
Nickname - Moth
Story - 😉
Name - Barry Coad, former Penrith and Hawkesbury opening batsman in Sydney
Nickname - Morse
Story - 😉
Name - Evan Dix, played NSW Premier Cricket for Sydney Cricket Club
Nickname - Dirty
Story - 😉
Name - Craig O'Shannessy
Nickname - Dish
Story - Home town was Parkes in NSW. Parkes Observatory relayed live television of humanity's first step in the Moon in 1969 and a movie was made 'The Dish'
Name - Peter McLay, 6 foot 4 left arm orthodox spinner for western suburbs in Sydney
Nickname - Skylab
Story - when he bowled the ball was released from a great height, falling from a space station
Name - Gavin Robertson, former Australian Test cricketer
Nickname - Riddler
Story - Gavin's propensity to talk in riddles
Name - Graeme Pitty, former NSW, Bankstown and Penrith fast bowler
Nickname - Wadda
Story - 😉
Name – Paul Cox is a great stalwart of Taree West Cricket Club
Nickname – Two balls
Story – Early in his career his innings only ever lasted two balls
Name – David Hourn
Nickname – Cracker
Story – 😉
Name - Glenn Trimble – former first class player for Queensland
Nickname - Chips
Story - Glenn was the son of legendary Queensland stalwart Sam Trimble – He was SAM’s BOY and thus the brand of potato crisps association and the nickname Chips.
Name - Withheld
Nickname - Marbles
Story: A guy in Wales would carry 5 marbles in his pocket when he went out to bat. When he transferred 5 marbles to the other pocket he knew it was time to take a single on the last ball of the over so he could keep strike
Name – Neil Marks, former NSW batsman
Nickname – Harpo
Story – named after one of the famous Marx brothers of slapstick comedy but stuck brilliantly
Name – Mark Clews, former NSW fast bowler
Nickname – Adonis
Story - the body! Awful to observe in a changing room as he dominated the room. Never enough mirrors! 😊
Name – Chris Clancy played grade cricket for North Sydney
Nickname - Clancy of the Overthrow
Story - Chris was captain of North Sydney Poidevin Gray side managed by Brian McMahon. He fielded in the covers and was always throwing hard at the stumps even though little chance of running batsmen out and the keeper not behind stumps. So Brian nicknamed him Clancy of the Overthrow.
Name – Damian Gratten-Smith played grade cricket for Sydney University
Nickname – Hondo
Story – there is a horse trotter around at the time he was playing called Hondo Gratten
Name – Peter Somerville played grade cricket for Sydney University
Nickname – Member
Story - Pete had a lash at local government and Mick O’Sullivan used to call him ‘Member’
Name – Trevor Jay played grade cricket for Randwick in Sydney
Nickname – Hammer
Story – Trevor was a great and funny sledger
Name – withheld
Nickname – 28B
Story – I played with a guy for a couple of season and nicknamed him 28B (plane seat number) because he was a complete a f#$%ing passenger
Name – Peter O’Reilly played grade cricket in Sydney
Nickname – Radar
Story – named after Radar O’Reilly in the TV sitcom M*A*S*H
Name – Gordon Goffet played first class cricket for NSW
Nickname – Rinny
Story - Gordon had a very hairy chest and back and his teammates thought he had as much hair as Rin Tin Tin, The German Sheppard in the series of the same name Rin Tin Tin
Name – Phillip Beale played for Easts in Brisbane
Nickname – Batma
Story – you’ll work it out
Name – Desmond Keen
Nickname – Two Three
Story – Team mate David Trower called him Two Three and when asked why David’s response was “There’s already a Desmond two two”
Name - Brett Hails who plays for the Rouchel Cricket Club in the Upper Hunter near Scone
Nickname – Diesel
Story – Brett fuelled his Land Cruiser with 160 Litres of unleaded, drove it to a remote bush cricket ground (45kms east of Scone) and couldn’t work out why the engine blew up
Name - David Sincock, former Australian Test Cricket
Nickname - Evil dick
Story - 😉
Name – Bruce Francis – former Test batsman
Nickname – Mule
Story - named after "Francis the talking mule"
Name – Andrew Smart played grade cricket in Brisbane
Nickname – Half
Story – Andrew is the brother of Queensland Sheffield Shield batsman Chris, the younger and less renowned Andrew was cruelly known as Half
Name – John Gleeson
Nickname - CHO
Story - The legendary former Test mystery spinner Johnny Gleeson, who became known as CHO as in "Cricket hours Only" as he was never seen by his team-mates after playing hours
Name – Corey Richards played first class cricket for NSW
Nickname – Spoons
Story – When Corey was 18/19 he played his first NSW 2XI in Brisbane against Queensland. Returning home, the plane was delayed and after a few drinks in the Airport Lounge it was suggested the youngest player should follow tradition and play spoons with a senior player. We’ll let you work out which one in the video would’ve been Corey
Name – Rod Sparrow played grade cricket in Brisbane
Nickname – Swallow
Story - After being told of his selection for QCA Colts, captain/coach Ian Greig announced to the team that they would be joined on Saturday by "Ron Swallow"
Name - Glenn Farquharson played grade cricket in Sydney
Nickname - Mother
Story – you’ll work it out
Name - Andrew Knight played grade cricket in Sydney and Brisbane
Nickname - Mudassar
Story - Not long after arriving in Brisbane from Sydney, Andrew was quoted in the Courier Mail that probably only he and Mudassar Nazar from Pakistan opened both the batting and bowling
Name – David Brandon was an umpire in NSW Premier Cricket
Nickname - Dougie
Story – David Brandon on being congratulated by Alan Davidson on his appointment as a Sheffield Shield umpire, was called Dougie Branson by Davo. He’s been known as Dougie ever since
Name - Peter Vilimaa, former Northern District fast bowler in Sydney
Nickname – Esto
Story - Commonly regarded as the greatest cricketer ever to come out of his parent’s homeland of Estonia. Less well known fact is that he’s the only cricketer to ever come out of Estonia
Name - Peter Taylor, former Australian spin bowler
Nickname – Boat
Story - traditionally PT to all his team mates but then cleverly named Boat by Greg Matthews linking the “PT” with the McHale’s Navy boat PT73. Clever. Took an extraordinary mind to come up with the one.
Name – Shane Harwood, former Victorian fast bowler
Nickname – Stickers
Story – Plenty of Tattoos
Richie Robinson, former Australian test cricketer
Nickname – Bookshelf
Story – named after popular book store in Melbourne ‘Robinson Bookshop
Name – Ian Healy former Australian Test Wicket keeper
Nickname – Battered Sav
Story – Ian was firstly Heals for obvious reasons then it became Savlon as Savlon Heals. Then it took the expected bawdy turn and became Battered Sav.
Greg Rowell – former NSW, Queensland and Tasmania fast bowler
Nickname – Reggie
Story – Greg was known as Bird when he was in Sydney because of his height, Big Bird. When Greg Rowell came up from Sydney to play at Wests in Brisbane, a local newspaper did a story and named him as Reg Rowell. He was known by a lot of Wests people as Reggie from then
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