Open slather on redhead Ronnie

It’s one thing for an Australian cricketer to take jibes from the English press but from an Australian selector? Andrew McDonald was recently compared to Ronald McDonald by Bob Willis and the Sun accordingly mocked up a photo of the allrounder with the fast-food clown’s head.

McDonald has been nicknamed Ronnie for years and he thinks the least Willis could do would be to come up with a more inventive taunt. “Pretty original, Bob, obviously over six foot tall, redhead and last name McDonald,” he told AAP. “It's quite original, I've never heard it before.”

But McDonald was duly told by one of Australia’s selectors and first-rate sledgers, Merv Hughes, that his appearance made him fair game. “If you've got red hair and freckles and you look like he does,” Hughes said, “it's just open slather for mine.”