He finished with a test average of over 50, in spite of a dreadful run spanning the first four matches of the 2005 Ashes. He was the first to cash in on the brain fade that led Nasser Hussain to put Australia in at the Gabba in 2002, walloping 197 in the first innings and then belting another ton in the second innings. He was also referred to as Hulk on account of his size and his approach to batting. Matthew Hayden вЂ“ Haydos вЂ“ left handed batter, very occasional medium pacer.

I personally rate the 154 not out in a team total of 252 all out on a pig of a pitch and in the face Ambrose at his most host hostile at Headingley in 1991 to have been the finest innings he ever played, although he scored more on quite a few occasions. As well as his вЂmust do betterвЂ™ nickname his moustache caused him to be dubbed вЂZapвЂ™ in honour of the Mexican revolutionary Zapata. Graham GoochвЂ“ Goochie вЂ“ right handed batter, right arm bowler of a pace that was described at various stages of his career as anything from fast medium to slow medium, scorer of 8,900 test runs, one of the openers for my all-time Essex XI.It is now time to meet the teams starting with theвЂ¦ LAME NICKNAMES XI Some of the players I have placed in the latter XI also had less unimpressive nicknames, but I have played fair in terms of creating a contest by picking two decent looking teams. The Cognominal Clash features an XI who had impressive nicknames and an XI whose nicknames were all in the вЂmust do betterвЂ™ category. Others were ironic вЂ“ the first Claudius to be cognominated Pulcher meaning beautiful was so dubbed because he had a decidedly unbeautiful character, and some could be cruel вЂ“ the already multiply cognominated Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo Vopiscus (Caesar implying possession of a luxuriant head of hair, Strabo meaning вЂcross-eyedвЂ™ and Vopiscus meaning that he was the survivor of what had been a pair of twins) subsequently acquired Sesquiculus, not just an arsehole but an arsehole and a half! Cricketer nicknames can be excellent or they can show an utter lack of imagination. Others pointed up features, so that if an ancestor had a wart on their nose one might inherit the cognomen Cicero, meaning chickpea because that was what the wart looked like. Some Roman cognomina were merely functional: Scaevola indicated that the cognominee or an ancestor (cognomina were often inherited) was left handed, Magnus or Maximus indicated achievement, arrogance or some combination of the foregoing, since the meant great and greatest respectively, and there were many other such. I have devised the word cognominal myself from the Latin cognomen, meaning nickname. This one requires a little bit of preliminary explanation, so without further adoвЂ¦ THE COGNOMINAL BRIEF Welcome to my latest variation upon an вЂ all time XIвЂ theme.

Gaius julius caesar strabo vopiscus