7 cricketers named after edible items

Cricket scorecards can get extremely mundane at times! I mean names and initials - how are they supposed to be of interest. But then subtle wordplay, albeit unintentional make things interesting.Here is a list of all edible cricketers, err, cricketers with names which invoke images of food items:

#1 Graham Onions

Slice ‘Onion’

At a time when India can do with his namesake for lesser rates, Onions is busy plying his trade for Durham in England. Named one of Wisden’s cricketers of the year in 2009, he made his international debut that same season.

A back injury in March 2010 prevented him from playing cricket until 2011. Upon his return in 2012, he 50 wickets in the County Championship and has since sporadically represented the Poms.

#2 Clive Rice

Great ‘Rice’

Considered one of the best all-rounders of his generation, Rice couldn’t play Test cricket till 1991 because of South Africa’s apartheid forced exile.

He, however, is fondly remembered for playing for Nottinghamshire in the English County Championship. His team then also featured internationals Richard Hadlee and Derek Randall. As a captain, he led the side to the County Championship title twice- in 1981 and 1987.

Named Wisden cricketer of the year in 1981, he later played for Scotland too.

#3 Allan Lamb

English ‘Lamb’

Born in South Africa, Lamb would go on to play 79 Test matches for England and was regarded as one of the best batsmen of his era and his final average of 36 from over 4,500 runs did not do justice to his ability.

14 Test hundreds, out of which 6 of them came against the West Indies in 22 matches, when he came up against some of the game's finest fast bowlers like Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose and Ian Bishop added credence to his reputation.

#4 Phil Mustard

Durham’s star

This left-handed English wicketkeeper-batsman has been compared to the legendary Adam Gilchrist often.

That aside, he has had a pretty mediocre career so far. His solitary call-up to the England team vs Sri Lanka in 2007 too happened because of a freak injury suffered by Matt Prior in the T20 World Cup prior to it.

#5 Ian Botham (Beefy)

All-rounder Boatham

One of the greatest all-rounders ever, Sir Ian Botham held the record for the highest number of wickets taken by an England bowler till recently, when James Anderson surpassed him.

Post-retirement though, he and Allan lamb featured prominently in an advertising campaign for Quality Standard Beef and Lamb in which their names, 'Beefy' and 'Lamby' and cartoon characteristics were used as a selling point.

#6 Inzamam ul Haq (Aloo)

Multan’s boy

Much like Botham, Inzamam makes this list on the basis of a moniker popularized by the media over the years. In fact, the cricketer was so displeased when a section of the crowd hurled chants of ‘aloo’ at him in Toronto in 1996 that he rushed on to a fan and tried to assault with a bat.

He did mellow down later though and even laughed off instances when people referred to him as aforementioned!

#7 Kola Burger

Burger ball

There are people who just walk into lists on the basis on pure merit! Imagine leaving Sir Don Bradman out of a run-scoring sheet or Muralitharan out of a cumulative wicket-taking list. Similarly, as is evident from the name, this Namibian cricketer is an automatic choice for this anthology!

I mean, there is Kola, there is Burger, all we needed was his middle name to not be Bernie and we could have had a full platter on our scorecard!