The Cricket Tweets Of The Week - Featuring Warne, Botham And Tufnell

The Cricket Tweets Of The Week - Featuring Warne, Botham And Tufnell

Mark Ramprakash's retirement got people talking on Twitter this week

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John Pryor highlights and discusses a range of the most entertaining and controversial tweets of the week by cricketers and cricket pundits.

With the funeral of Tom Maynard taking place this week, Twitter was justifiably full of tributes for the young Surrey star. Former England Captain Michael Vaughan (@VaughanCricket) tweeted, "I hear the Cricket Family did Tom Maynard proud today in Cardiff...Emotional day for everyone.. Thoughts are with Matt and the Family.. heaven became a better place today... Time to raise a glass to a young talented man who will be sorely missed... #RIPTom."

Paul Nixon(@Paulnico199) added to this, tweeting a picture of the service sheet (http://pic.twitter.com/Z3rZEV1f) and applauding the massive turn out.

Joining them in paying tribute to his Surrey teammate was Kevin Pietersen (@kevinpp24), who also used Twitter to defend the poor performance of Surrey in their match against Hampshire on Sunday. Pietersen tweeted: "It's not all about winning at the moment for Surrey. The dressing room is full of champions for playing through this sad time. Surrey supporters- please be patient with the boys!" A sentiment we all agree with.   

Twitter also responded to the announcement that Surrey legend Mark Ramprakash is retiring from all forms of the game after a glittering 25-year career during which he made 461 first-class appearances and played 52 Tests and 18 One-Day Internationals for England.

Ex-Surrey teammate Adam Hollioake (@adamhollioake) tweeted : "Just want to say a big congrats to my ex team mate @MarkRamprakash you had the most amazing career...I hope you enjoy retirement as much as everyone else has enjoyed watching you bat.... It was a privilege to have played with you...Wasn’t so much fun playing against you ;-)."

Although Ramprakash shone on the county circuit, scoring over 100 first-class centuries he was never able to translate this form into success on the Test match arena, averaging just 27.32. Phil Tufnell (@philtufnell), a former international teammate used Twitter to explain and defend Ramprakash’s poor international form; Tuffers tweeted an extract from his bestselling book, Cricket Tales, to argue that ‘yo-yo’ selection policy in English cricket stopped Ramprakash fulfilling his batting potential.
 
The more comedic side of cricket Twitter belonged to Shane Warne (@warne888), Tino Best (@tinobest) and Craig Kieswetter (@kiesy_22). The picture posted by Ian Botham (@BeefyBotham) of Warney wearing an England cricket tie, (pic.twitter.com/Q4OaPGcm), was undoubtedly a highlight for any England fan who remembers Warne tearing through England batting line-ups during his glory days.

This fashion statement was the result of Warne losing a bet with Bumble on the England vs Australia game; let’s hope he has better luck in his upcoming poker tournament.

Following the emphatic sprint double of Yohan Blake over Usain Bolt at the Jamaican Olympic trials it was inevitable that before long an egotistical fast bowler would start making comparisons between himself and Blake.

Tino Best fulfilled this role tweeting: "Disappointed I didn't get to meet Yohan 'the Beast' Blake...funny thing I'm Tino 'the Animal' Best lol."

Any abuse aimed at Steven Finn is funny; therefore Craig Kieswetter (@kiesy_22) describing Finny as a ‘Retro Lover’ comparable to Keith Lemon is an amusing end to this week’s review.    

John Pryor tweets at @johnnypryor and Cricket World are tweeting at @Cricket_World

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