A T-shirt design created by the Alternative Cricket Collective.
A T-shirt design created by the Alternative Cricket Collective.
Hairy Javelin, Wonky Donkey and Skinger.
Or, as they are sometimes known, Grant Elliott, Luke Ronchi and Martin Guptill.
Fans of Alternative Commentary Collective (ACC) will be au fait with many of the affectionate nicknames dished out for the Black Caps by the off-the-wall radio commentary crew.
Others might struggle to put Blacks Caps faces to terms of endearment such as Small Mouth, Mills & Boon and Komodo Dragon.
ACC founder Paul Ford kindly explained the origin of the nicknames to the Herald.
The ACC have been credited with semifinal hero Grant Elliott's "Hairy Javelin" moniker, but it actually came from within the team. For those who haven't heard the reason behind the name yet, Elliott is both very hairy and very skinny.
With their commentary duties over for the summer, Ford and fellow ACC members Mike Lane and Jeremy Wells will be heading to Sunday's final as fans.
"I'm taking my wife who is really into cricket and I thought Mike was taking his wife," Ford said. "But Mike's actually taking Jeremy Wells. I'm not quite sure if his wife ever found out there was a ticket available."
The pair, who formed fan group The Beige Brigade in 1999, booked their tickets months ago in the full expectation they would not get to see New Zealand play.
"When we booked the tickets it was kind of like we booked the icing and now the cake has arrived in the form of the team," Ford said. "You always hope but it was such a forlorn hope that we were ever going to be in it so, yeah, it's pretty awesome that it has come to fruition."
Black Caps nicknames - from the ACC
Brendon McCullum - Prince Brendon - A straight out term of affection for the skipper
Trent Boult - Small Mouth - Apparently the left-arm swing bowler has a small mouth, a topic that attracts plenty of discussion in the ACC box. The boys are also fans of chanting Boult's name to the tune of the theme music from the movie Flash Gordon.
Grant Elliott - Hairy Javelin - ACC have been credited with coming up with Elliott's nickname but the collective's founder Paul Ford insists it came from within the team and was passed on to the ACC by Nathan McCullum. The ACC do, however, claim credit for coining the semifinal hero's kids the Hairy Matchsticks.
A T-shirt design created by the Alternative Cricket Collective.
Tom Latham - Son of Rod - Self explanatory. Tom is in fact the son of former ODI opening batsman Rod Latham.
Martin Guptill - Skinger The double centurion from the quarterfinal win over West Indies is not quite full blown ginger, says Ford. "He's got the skin tone but not the hair. So we call him Skinger."
Mitchell McCleneghan - Mitch the Bitch or Paleo King The left arm fast bowler is a devoted to the Paleo diet and runs a Paleo meat business.
Nathan McCullum - Komodo Dragon "He's got wide neck and is a very good defensive fielder," says Ford. "So if he is guarding his nest or his particular area of the field he is very good. In terms of going out and capturing eggs, not so good, but protecting them, very, very good.
Daniel Vettori - The Blind Italian Librarian Pretty much self-explanatory
Kane Williamson - Steady the Ship "He's always brought on to sort everything out."
Corey Anderson - Mills and Boon "He's so dreamy, good looking and muscular".
Tim Southee - No nickname In lieu of a nickname the ACC boys tend to just sing Southee's name in a silly high pitched voice.
Luke Ronchi - Wonky Donkey "A very popular book by Craig Smith which is suitable for kids from pre-school to kindergarten, which is perfect for our audience."
Ross Taylor - KFC Kid "That's not racist," insists Ford. "He actually does like KFC. We were on the Gold Coast walking through the mall at Surfers and there was a KFC there and he was in it."
