Random Cricket Photos Post 52



#RandomCricketPhotosThatMakeMeHappy

Another of those photos where I would need you to look a little closely for there are too many elements in the frame. But the action plays out between a member of the crowd and the cricketer.

A member of the crowd can be seen holding a banana and offering it to the fielder stationed on the boundary. Now, a banana in the hands of a member of the crowd in a sporting event sounds like a bad omen, if our experience of watching racial abuse on footballers around the world is anything to go by.


However, in this picture, the cricketer can also be seen extending his hand, as if accepting the offering, towards the man with the banana. The fact that the onlookers can be seen smiling in the background reassures that it’s not your average incident of racial abuse of a sportsman by a crowd member. In all probability, it's a good-natured banter with a cricketer who is much loved by fans.

The offering is probably a nod to the fact that the cricketer actually loves bananas. In fact, according to an interview, his diet consists of 20 bananas every day.

Peter Siddle, the man in the picture, was vegetarian since 2002 and turned vegan in 2013 on the insistence of his wife, who happens to be an animal rights activist. In the following Ashes of 2013, Siddle went on to play all the matches and in the process busted a few common myths about vegans being not fit enough or lacking in endurance.

For a person who went on to play 67 Tests for Australia bowling fast and that too with considerable success (which involves making Pietersen his bunny), it’s no wonder that Siddle is looked up as an icon in the vegan world. And he's not finished yet. 

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