UPDATE: Thanks to Page from Dan Radcliffe.co.uk who let us know that via his official reps, the story about Dan Radcliffe playing a game of Cricket in LA is FALSE.
Thanks Page!
Sports fan Dan Radcliffe may be coming out to Los Angeles, California this weekend to take part in a celebrity match of one of this favorite sports: Cricket. The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that organizers for the Australia Week G’Day USA festival have added this event their schedule in hopes to further promote Australia in the United States and have a slew of celebrity talent poised to take to the field. The paper is reporting Radcliffe may appear at the game which is said to include other notable names such as Russell Crowe, Jude Law, Robbie Williams, and Mick Jagger. The official G’Day USA site describes the Hollywood Ashes Twenty20 match by saying:
This event will see Australian and English international cricket legends, celebrities and local players fight for the honour and glory of the Hollywood Ashes. These traditional rivals battle it out in an action packed 20/20 cricket match starting at 12 noon.
Steve Waugh, former professional cricketer and the one overseeing the event, notes that Dan Radcliffe may be the ‘dark horse’ in the match, saying: “I know Robbie Williams is a big soccer fan and I’m not sure about Jude Law, but I know Daniel Radcliffe loves his cricket so I’d say he’d be the danger man.”
I don’t see why Dan wouldn’t be able to participate. It’s not like he is hog-tied to the studio. I am sure that days off for other things are permitted. Any full-time job allows personal days. Sheesh!
lol i’d love to see Dan play cricket – i hope its true
d’ya reckon he’s a bowler of batsman? Personally i think he’ll suprise us all by being an undiscovered unbelievable spin bowler and will be immediately asked to join the england team, but after half blood prince, so maybe he’ll be there to win back the ashes for england? lol
Well, I am team manager and player for a small but lively village cricket club in Kingston, UK and would like to officially invite Dan Radcliffe to play for us any time and I will waive his £5 match fee ;-) Yeah, ok, very unlikely but nice to know he loves cricket – he was at Lords at one of the Test Matches last Summer reading Deathly Hallows (well actually he was watching the game but he had the book on him). But if I remember right, Dan is actually not an avid cricket lover but gained an interest in it in recent years from the big buzz of England wining the Ashes of Australia in 2005.
Posted by Professor Potter on January 19, 2008, 11:00 PM
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So, if it’s a 20/20 match, does that mean that only people with perfect eyesight can play? No glasses or contacts allowed?
lol Bandersnatch, I guess I don’t get the joke… anyway, Dan only needed glasses when he was a kid.
Professor Potter, I don’t think the way you become intereted in a sport makes any difference, someone can be an avid fan no-matter how, why or when he became interested in it.
For example, I became interested in HP after the 4th movie was released, but I don’t think that makes be a worst fan!
Dan is a huge cricket fan, he brought a cricket book to the OotP premiere so this famous cricket player would sign it for him, which was really cool, and he plays cricket too, so if you invite him, don’t be surprised if he is interested, the surprising thing would be he would be able to find the time to go! ;)
I think Dan could make the time to go over the weekend, especially for cricket which he loves. Notice that the field they’re supposed to play in has NO security fences ,etc and they are expecting some major stars there! IT’s to promote everything aussie, I guess, hey? Anybody who could go should go, this would be fantastic. Even if Dan doesn’t go, you’ re likely to meet those other stars! Incidentally, Dan was signing someone else’s copy of the seventh book, he wasn’t carrying his own at the time. Also he was there for ALL of the five? days of that match.
OK, as someone who has been playing and watching cricket since I was kneehigh to a grasshopper a few points:
1. Steve Waugh, former Australian captain and all round good guy (my all time favourite cricketer), is one of the organisers of this match. If he says Dan is going to play, it is almost guaranteed Dan will be there.
2. Yes, test matches can go for up to five days but this is a Twenty20 match – they only bat 20 overs (6 balls bowled in an over) each, so the match only takes about three hours. It’s a very new form of the game, after Test match cricket and One Day Cricket (50 overs each). So Dan only needs to be there for one day.
3. You don’t “suit up” to play cricket, lol. You “pad up” when you go into bat.
4. There may be a few cameras there from news organisations, but I would be surprised if the match was broadcast. It is just a publicity event for the Australian Tourism event, GDay USA, not a properly recognised cricket match.
The event, I’m pretty sure, won’t be televised. They hold these kind of events all the time and they are almost never televised.