ARMY BAND IN TUNE TO LAMPOON
ENGLAND’S Barmy cricket supporters have promised no mercy for under-siege former Australian captain Tim Paine if he makes it to Brisbane for the first Ashes Test at the Gabba next month.
This year’s Ashes series, which starts at the Gabba from December 8, will be devoid of mass support from England due to quarantine restrictions but local expats promise to be in full voice.
A crowd of about 150 kept the faith at Peter Burge Oval in Brisbane on Tuesday as England started their Australian tour with a waterlogged three-day trial among themselves.
George Gallantree, organiser of the Brisbane Barmies group of local-based expats who are likely to fill up to 1300 seats at the
Gabba and are part of England’s iconic Barmy Army network, revealed Aussie wicketkeeper Paine would be the focus of their attention.
They had already penned a parody for Paine that was taking aim at his batting efforts, and lack of a Test century, but sometimes opportunities to get creative just land in your lap – which is exactly what happened last Friday with Paine’s tearful exit as Test captain for sending lewd images to a female colleague four years ago.
As such they’ve already penned a parody song about Paine’s sexting scandal to the My Old Man’s A Dustman tune and are mulling over a few different versions of R-Rated lyrics.
“We had about five versions of the song the day the scandal broke,’’ Gallantree said.
“We will be singing Jerusalem on the first morning and we will have a trumpeter on hand. We will also sing a special song for Tim and we will have other songs. We have three bays at the Gabba and have 1300 seats all up.
“We have sold 70 per cent of seats because there has been so much talk about whether it is on or not.’’
England had a subdued playing start to their tour after rain interrupted their three-day trial against their English Lions backup players.
Heavy showers forced the abandonment of the day with openers Rory Burns (39 not out) and Haseeb Hameed (52) batting through three rain delays to be 0-98 at stumps.