The NZ Herald recently ran a cricket story from Britain’s Telegraph with a brilliant caption. Whether it was the Telegraph’s or the Herald’s is not clear, but well done to its author. It brought back fond memories of the peak years for newspapers, namely the 1980s, when clever and witty caption-writing was something they prided themselves on, and in New Zealand, specially the then Dominion.
Anyway, the story in question is how the English test cricket side has suddenly come alive, whacking all and sundry ever since our Brendan McCullum took over their coaching and New Zealand-born Ben Stokes the captaincy.
Specifically, it’s about how McCullum and Stokes faith in persisting with the then burnt out young batsman Ollie Pope has paid off.
The brilliant heading read,
“REBORN; POPE GIVES BLESSING TO McCULLUM’S HELP”
Mind you, as I’ve written before, while it was simply reportage of the facts, my all-time favourite caption was the then Dominion’s four decades back, “Chainsaw Wielding Transvestite Pursues Westport Mr Whippy Man”.