Comedian Billy Birmingham‘s spoken word track gives cricket a new lease in life.
In June 1984, there was plenty of new pop and rock music dominating the charts from local and international artists. But one stood out from the rest.
Comedian Billy Birmingham brought out his cricket persona The 12th Man and re-envisioned the way Australia would listen to cricket commentary from Channel 9’s Wide World Of Sports.
His EP It’s Just Not Cricket was a piss-take impersonation of cricket commentators Richie Benaud, Tony Grieg, Bill Lawry and many more. Included was Birmingham’s funny twist on international cricker player names with a tingle of racial humour.
It was to set the platform for Birmingham, who over a period of 30 years, managed to score seven number 1 albums on the Australian music charts.