In the last few months, with cricketers spending all their time at home, we're getting rare glimpses into their domestic lives, thanks to social media. And a surprising amount of that has involved pets - so much so that the canine slip cordon has emerged as a trend. Cats had a brief moment in the sun as the stars of lockdown cricket, but it seems they prefer football.
Pat Cummins and fiancé Becky Boston got themselves a puppy, Norman, last year, and Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc "haven't stopped giving it to me", Cummins told Direct TV, because Norman is a toy poodle. But he's a real fast bowler's dog, Cummins says. "He's tiny, but he will hurt you if you cross him the wrong way."
Long before lockdown, dogs had their place on the cricket field too. Baldrick, the groundsman's dog at Basin Reserve, would often join pitch inspections, like he does with David Lloyd here.
They also make drinks breaks go faster
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At home they can be cajoled into a spot of cricket with a promise of belly rubs, if you can get them to stop chewing on the equipment and return the ball.
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