Daddles, also known as Daddles the duck, is the name of an animated duck who was first introduced in 1977, used in the television coverage of
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
by the
Australian
Nine Network's ''
Wide World of Sports''.
When a
batsman
In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...
is
dismissed without scoring, usually referred to as a "
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...
", an animation of Daddles,
dressed as a batsman, is shown using on-screen graphics, crying, tucking his
bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...
under his wing and walking across the screen accompanying the coverage of the departing batsman on his way back to the
pavilion
In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings:
* It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
. According to
Cricinfo, this adds "to the departing batsman's shame" at being dismissed without troubling the scorers. In its most common format, the sound of the duck was similar to an upset-sounding
Donald Duck. The duck was used in many cricket broadcasts for nearly 40 years.
Origins
In 1977, Australian media tycoon
Kerry Packer organised a break-away professional cricket tournament called
World Series Cricket
World Series Cricket (WSC) was a commercial professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 which was organised by Kerry Packer and his Australian television network, Nine Network. WSC ran in commercial competition to establish ...
, despite never having played cricket himself. He ensured that Daddles was one of a number of innovations introduced at the new tournament, along with additional cameras placed around the ground, greater usage of slow-motion replays,
day-night matches, coloured costumes, white
balls and
stump-cam. There existed a perception that
Test cricket
Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...
needed to "make major changes" to keep the public interested, and that "observing cricket rated about as high as watching paint dry".
[ The graphical innovation, conceived by Australian cartoonist Tom Kerr (no relation to the British cartoonist of the same name) was brought to David Hill, a sports producer for Nine who later brought further innovative coverage of sports to the ]United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
through his presidency of Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
's Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...
.Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
, upon announcing that they would be covering the English cricket team
The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engl ...
in 1999, stated "there will be no cartoon ducks". Daddles was considered to be a way in which to keep young people interested in the long format of the game.
Kerr himself stated on his website in 2016: "I read somewhere that the pommies (the English) ''hated'' it, and that is reward in and of itself."
See also
* Primary Club
References
External links
Daddles the Duck footage
Animated characters
World Series Cricket
Fictional ducks
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