Issue 7

A Post Card from Chayank As you may know I spent my winter in Australia and I’m still “stuck” here. I played a season of 2 day cricket. I quickly realised it is even more dull than it looks. My first game I had to bowl 29 overs from one end on a mild 25 plus day. This pretty much became the norm - I was bowling long spells weekly and picking up next to no wickets for a low economy. Boring stuff. However, 2nd half of the season was more interesting as I got to open the batting! Yes Watts, batting is easy. Opening the batting is a joke. If you get out early there are plenty of excuses. My personal favourites: “first one that swung the other way”, “you’re gonna get one of them at least a season” or “I just missed a straight one.” Anything you say is acceptable. My scores weren’t the best with a 40 odd, 30 odd and a couple of other starts but I was facing the new ball so scores don’t matter. The last game I faced the ex Sri Lankan opening bowler, Eranga, who holds the record for a wicket in his first over of each format of international cricket. I think he had a dispute with the ICC so found himself opening the bowling against me. You could have easily mistaken him for an Australian as well. He was a polite man who aimed regularly at my head, especially with no ICC to bother him. In my defence, I kept expertly leaving or missing the ball. Nevertheless, I saw him off and on comes a mix between Nick Martin/Omar Ahmed. It only took him his first ball to get me out. Moral of the story; pace is overrated. To sum up the season, plenty of people tried to take my head off during the winter and no one succeeded so I expect to be opening the batting when I get back. See you soon - stay safe. Cheeky at the Adelaide Oval with Nick White

The Unlikely Origins of a Nickname Nick Martin reveals all There are a few things you can rely on when you arrive at Grange Loan on a Saturday: taking abuse from Fraser Watts, Moon asking you to move covers, Sibs being hungover and Cheeky grinning ear to ear. Those unfamiliar with Cheeky might assume the grin would be followed with a pleasant greeting or friendly small talk. I would advise caution to these people. More often than not, this grin is paired with morally dubious goading and teasing. Connecting the dots, I came to the conclusion that the mischievous joshing was the origins of his nickname however on further examination this did not ring true… Born in New Delhi, at the beginning of 1996, Chayank Gosain moved to Scotland with his family in 2005. Struggling to make friends he soon became obsessed with reruns of the ITV talent show “Popstars the Rivals”. Chayank was besotted with a pair of Romanian twins from the auditions. Gabriela and Monica Irimia were identical twins who failed to impress the judges, but managed to secure young Chayank’s heart, and, not necessarily for that reason, a record deal. They were known as the Cheeky Girls. Cheeky Girls Their single “Cheeky Song” made it to number two in the charts in 2003. But in the Gosain household in the summer 2005 you could be forgiven for thinking it had made a late surge for the elusive top spot. So it was that the 10 year old Chayank turned up to his first Carlton Junior Wednesday with a Cheeky Girl style haircut and pronouncing he was a Cheeky Boy. As with most nicknames, it was shortened and adapted, and its origins, like most Cheeky Girl fans, forgotten. Until now. Cheeky Boy