Cricket
ESPNcricinfo staff 4y

The Buzz: SRT's encounter with the knowledgeable Chennai fan

Cricket

All the world's cricketers walked into a bar. The LOLs, the chatter, and the occasional mini-brawls, they were endless. And the news cycle was never the same again! Welcome to ESPNcricinfo's Social Buzz, your go-to destination for all the bantz, the jousts, and little bit of eavesdropping from the social media playground and beyond.

December 14

The knowledgeable Chennai cricket fanatic - well, you find one at the most unexpected places, and times. Like at a hotel room, delivering coffee to Sachin Tendulkar.

December 13

Williamson didn't walk? Stuart Broad isn't happy

Stuart Broad is so familiar with the smell of outrage in the morning in Australia, having been accused of "blatant cheating" by a former Australian coach when he did not walk after being caught nicking a ball.

How will Kane Williamson be treated for what is surely a line-in-the-sand moment in the eyes of all Australians?

December 11

Ben Stokes coughs up after Headingley-inspired underpants run

Two cricket fans who braved freezing temperatures to complete a charity run in just their underpants and flip-flops have received a donation of more than £19,000 from Ben Stokes, after their exploits were inspired by Stokes' heroics against Australia at Headingley last summer.

Jonathan Lamley, 42, and Mike Macdonald, 62, agreed to the bet midway through England's 359-run run-chase in the third Test in August, which Stokes eventually sealed by one wicket with an unbeaten 135.

"I was stood watching it on TV for about three hours and I couldn't believe what I was seeing," Macdonald told NottinghamshireLive. "Then I realised that we were now actually going to be doing this thing and I just wondered what we had got ourselves into."

The pair wore masks of Stokes' face during their 5k parkrun in Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire, and raised an initial £2,000 for their chosen charity, Alzheimer's Research UK.

Stokes initially tweeted the pair to congratulate them on "sticking to your word". But then, after speaking to the pair during an interview on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, he decided to get more involved.

"I think it would be only suitable to join them with there [sic] cause...so I'll donate £1 to every retweet and like I get to this tweet in the next 30mins," Stokes wrote, leading his wife Clare to retort "Gonna cost you more than our wedding babe!"

Sure enough, an anonymous donation of £19,127 was made to the runners' Justgiving page on Tuesday evening, with the message: "Well done you 2, great to speak this morning, just holding up my word like you 2 did".

There's a Punter on our timeline

An unprecedented event almost broke cricket Twitter this morning. The world woke up to this post, by a certain former Australian captain:

And Ponting delivered a one-two sucker punch with this:

Cue the aahs, oohs and awws.

English pop band Bastille's drummer Chris Wood already has visions of what the future might hold.

Everyone wants to be as cool as Faf du Plessis

Faf du Plessis is sexy. You know this. We know this. Osman Samiuddin knows this. And having worked in close proximity to that magnetic personality, his team-mates certainly know it. Here's Andile Phehlukwayo wanting to be as cool as Faf. We feel you, Andile.

December 10

Match stopped by snake!

We've seen matches stopped for the strangest reasons - sun, snow, bees, burnt toast - so when a critter gatecrashed an Andhra v Vidarbha game, it wasn't exactly making hissstory. A happy snake wandered onto the field during the local Ranji match for a pitch inspection (was it looking for the legendary green mamba of Kingsmead?) and held up the game until it was… applauded off the grounds.

And we've seen some snake action on the field before.

December 9

We want Sanju!

It's pretty common to hear crowds in India chanting "Kohli, Kohli" or "Dhoni, Dhoni" (Ed: back in my day, it was almost exclusively "Sachin, Sachin"), but in Thiruvananthapuram, they are loyal to their own. Ahead of the T20I against West Indies, the crowd made it clear who they'd like to see behind the stumps for India - local lad Sanju Samson. It wasn't to be. Rishabh Pant kept wicket and India lost the match by eight wickets - which may or may not have had to do with Samson's absence.

Shane Warne could soon become super-duper rich

Warne has revealed that when he signed on with IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals in 2008 - and subsequently led them to the inaugural title - he was given a 0.75% stake in the franchise for every year he played. Reports suggest that the Royals are valued at US$200 million now and Warne reckons that figure could double in the next couple of years. "Three per cent of USD 400 million is all right," Warne told the Herald Sun.

Missed all the chatter last week? Catch up on it here.

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