At the expense of the English ...

Press, 14 July 1989, Page 40

At the expense of the English ...

NZPA London While Australia’s cricket team thrashed England’s batsmen in the third test, authorities at the Edgbaston ground were trying to stop Australian fans causing similar embarrassment off the field. An announcer, Alan Curtis, had been warned to guard against bored fans who try to have silly messages broadcast on the public address system. The silly message season began when a call went out for a “Mr Hugh Jarse” during the Australians match against Northamptonshire. Later during the second test at Lord’s, Mr Curtis broadcast a call for a “Mr B. Rubble, of Bedrock” before realising this was a cartoon character. “It’s been going on for years,” Mr Curtis told the “Daily Telegraph.” “You can usually spot them but at Lord’s, I had 43 names to read as quickly as possible, and Barney Rubble was one of them.”

But if anything Mr Curtis is now over cautious. He explained: “Someone left a message for a Wayne Gooley, of New South Wales. “I didn’t want to give the crowd a cheap laugh by reading out his surname so I just described him. “Then he turned out to be genuine.”