The Grade Cricketer
The Grade Cricketer is a pen name for an Australian comedy troupe who focus on sport, particularly cricket. The troupe write books, create video and audio podcasts, do live sports commentary, as well as interviews and live shows. The currently active members are Sam Perry and Ian Higgins. Dave Edwards was part of the team until 2020. They were friends who played 1st and 2nd grade cricket in Australia and began a Twitter account as @gradecricketer, whilst promoting their mantra “quit cricket, get massive”. They subsequently wrote books and columns and host a podcast.
Podcast
The Grade Cricketer Podcast is presented by the team during the Australian cricketing summer, and is a comedic, satirical take on the cricketing world. There have been eight seasons since the promo episode was released in October 2016. Music is provided by Adrian Leung, with cover design by Julia Dowe.The podcast is released in both audio and video formats.
Interviews
Episodes often include guest interviews, and the format regularly involves one interview with a cricket journalist, and a further one later on with a current or former player. These always begin with some form of the question "What's your relationship with Grade Cricket?"; whilst the player interviews end with throw-downs, in which the presenters ask ridiculous, long-winded questions, to which the guest can often respond only with a binary yes/no answer. The most frequent guests, also known as "best friends of the show", are Adam "Collo" Collins from the journalism world, with ten appearances, and Ed "Ted" Cowan from the players with six.AskTGC
The last section of the podcast normally involves answering questions submitted to The Grade Cricketer via social media,. These questions are often incredibly long, leading Higgins to sometimes refer to the section as their "short story competition", but also sometimes little more than a statement followed by "thoughts?", and regularly concern topics such as alpha-ing, father-son relationships, social status within clubs/teams, retirement from the game, and other general advice relating to the world of amateur cricket.Advertisements
Over the course of the podcast run, advertisements for various products, both real and imaginary tie-in ones, have been inserted, voiced by Toby Shain and, occasionally, the hosts themselves. Products include:Fake products/services
- Chop King Cologne: a fragrance inspired by the concept of the Chop King, with the tagline of "reek of runs without hitting them"
- The Grade Cricket Rehabilitation Centre: a centre for reintegrating former grade cricket players into normal society
- Reno Rampage: a parody of a Renovation Rescue-style show, specifically aimed at renovating grade cricket clubhouses
- Bravago: a parody of travel company Trivago
- Alpha-Ade: a fictional sportsdrink, parodying Gator/Powerade
Real products/services
- OLED TVs: a parody of David Warner's advertisements for the same product during the 2016/17 Australian home summer series
- Grade cricket
- ''The Grade Cricketer: Tea and No Sympathy ''
Books
- The Grade Cricketer
- Tea and No Sympathy
- ''The Grade Cricketer: Alphas, Champs and Chop Kings''
Podcast Episode List
| # / title | Guest |
| The Grade Cricketer Summer 2017/18 promo | - |
| 19. Going 'Round again, with Ed Cowan | Adam Collins & Ed Cowan |
| 20. #ThanksCricket, with Pat Cummins | Andrew Wu & Pat Cummins |
| 21. Voluminous Runs, with Brett Geeves | Will Macpherson & Brett Geeves |
| 22. The Overseas Pro, with Dan Norcross | Adam Collins & Dan Norcross |
| The New Fragrance, by TGC | - |
| 23. Club Presidents, with James Sutherland | Izzy Westbury & James Sutherland |
| 24. Middle-Aged Levers, with The Betoota Advocate's Clancy Overell | Tom Morris & Clancy Overell |
| 25. Their Heads Met, with Chris Rogers | Will Macpherson & Chris Rogers |
| 26. Rig-o-saurus, with Mark Butcher | Mark Butcher |
| 27. Always Look Good, with Mike Atherton | Adam Collins & Mike Atherton |
| 28. Everything's Binary, with Simon Katich and Gideon Haigh | Gideon Haigh & Simon Katich |
| 29. Doesn't Matter How You Get 'Em, with Trent Woodhill | Trent Woodhill & Will Macpherson |
| 30. Labor Omnia Vincit, with Jarrod Kimber | Jarrod Kimber |
| 31. SCG Ashes Day 1, with Ed Cowan | Ed Cowan & Will Macpherson |
| 32. SCG Ashes Day 2 | Adam Collins |
| 33. Do You Remember Me? with Jackson Bird and Ryan Carters | Ryan Carters & Jackson Bird |
| 34. Don't Touch It! with Steve O'Keefe | Andrew Walton, Izzy Westbury & Steve O'Keefe |
| 35. Season Finale, with Mitch Marsh and George Bailey | Vithushan Ehantharajah & Mitch Marsh |
| 35. Season Finale, with Mitch Marsh and George Bailey | George Bailey |
| 36. Alpha Wars, with Merv Hughes | Adam Collins & Merv Hughes |
| 37. Going Tropicana, with Ed Cowan | Dan Brettig & Ed Cowan |
| 38. "But What's He Like As A Bloke?" | Adam Collins |
| 39. Alpha Meltdown, with Ellyse Perry | Peter Lalor, Ellyse Perry & Dr Tim Sharp |
| 40. The Beta Era, with Damien Fleming | Adam Collins & Damien Fleming |
| 41. They Were Friends, with Trent Copeland | Paul Kennedy & Trent Copeland |
| # / title | Guest |
| 60. How Good Is Australia, with Ed Cowan | Dan Brettig & Ed Cowan |
| 61. Land of Hope and Glory, with Will Pucovski & Izzy Westbury | Izzy Westbury & Will Pucovski |
| 62. Tournament Opener Reactions | Will Macpherson |
| 63. Decent Gas, with Shaun Tait | Ali Martin & Shaun Tait |
| 64. It's Alive | Vithushan Ehantharaja |
| 65. That's What A Coulter-Nile Is | Adam Collins |
| 66. Walking Like A Dude, with Niall O'Brien | Adam Collins & Niall O'Brien |
| 67. Next! | Mel Farrell |
| 68. Chris Woakes Bats 3 | - |
| 69. Kashmir, with Ryan Harris | Vithushan Ehantharajah & Ryan Harris |
| 70. Eoin Morgan Hits More Sixes Than You Ever Have | - |
| 71. Warner's 166 Problems | - |
| 72. Lasith Malinga's Rig Destroys England, with Mark Butcher | Mark Butcher |
| 73. England's Deep-Seated Psychological Vulnerability | - |
| 74. Catastrophic Permutations, with Kurtis Patterson | Kurtis Patterson |
| 75. Australia May Never Lose Again | - |
| 76. Salads Everywhere, with George Bailey | George Bailey |
| 77. England Are Here | - |
| 78. Thursday Showdown, with Chris Lynn and Dan Norcross | Chris Lynn & Dan Norcross |
| 79. Barefoot, with Ellyse Perry | Ellyse Perry |
| 80. Smashed | - |
| 81. Oh. My. God | - |
| 82. Asterisk, with Alex Carey | Alex Carey |
| 83. Shower Politics, with Cameron Bancroft | Cameron Bancroft |
| 84. Steve Smith Makes Me Feel Safe, with Marcus North | Marcus North |
| 85. "Congratulations Jofra", with Peter Siddle | Peter Siddle |
| 86. Marnus! with Trent Copeland | Trent Copeland |
| 87. All Roads Leeds To, with Marnus Labuschagne | Marnus Labuschagne |
| 88. This Is Very Raw, with Tim Bresnan | Tim Bresnan & Dean Wilson |
| 89. To Old Trafford, with Doug Bollinger & Steve Waugh | Doug Bollinger & Steve Waugh |
| 90. Too Good, with Chris Rogers | Chris Rogers |
| 91. Fin | Dean Jones |
| 92. The Boys of Summer, with Pavel Florin | Pavel Florin |
TV show
In 2018, The Grade Cricketer on 7 show was launched on 7Sport's YouTube channel. The season covered the 2018/19 summer of cricket and featured 11 episodes featuring all of the trio. In 2019, The Grade Cricketer on 7 was moved to 7plus for season 2 covering the 2019/20 summer of cricket; season 2 was only presented by Ian Higgins and Sam Perry.Live shows
The Grade Cricketer has presented live shows over multiple Australian summers and the English summers of 2019 and 2023, covering the 2019 World Cup and the 2019 and 2023 Ashes. The live shows, like the podcasts, usually feature guests.In 2024, they hosted a live show with guest Ravi Shastri in New York City during the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
Terminology
Many terms have been popularised through the books and podcast efforts of The Grade Cricketer. These include:- to alpha: to exert dominance over another person, by word or action
- to beta: to be alphaed
- rig: the physical conditioning of a person's body. In the words of one of the founders, Sam Perry, “rig is more of a holistic thing. It’s basically everything you are setting up.”
- to champ someone: to call another person by "champion" or any derivation of the word, including, but not limited to: champ, champignon, Champs-Élysées, Champions League
- circuit: post-game revelry enjoyed with teammates at various drinking establishments
- a chop: a sexual conquest
- levers: arms, specifically with reference to a batsman's six-hitting ability
- salad: a person's head hair
- triple C: Century-Circuit-Chop; the rare event of all the following events achieved on the same day/night in order: 1. a player scoring a century 2. enjoying a noteworthy night out, or circuit, with their teammates 3. having sexual intercourse.
- pipes: biceps
- Chop King: one proficient in chopping. Also the name of the self-endorsed cologne with the tag line “Reek of runs without actually scoring them.”