This fielder is sure to bowl over visitors to Liverpool’s World Museum.
Bush Crickets have arrived in time for the Ashes and museum staff have named them after England’s test stars.
Cricketing stars include Jimmy – right, (named after swing bowler Jimmy Anderson).
Other crickets have been named Swanny (after spinner Graeme Swann) and to balance things out, one has been called Shane, after the legendary Aussie Shane Warne.
The Museum’s Bug House has welcomed eight of the creatures (otherwise known as Giant Floridian Katydid) and is looking for cricketing names for the other five members of the team. Can you help? Please send you suggestions via Twitter @world_museum or go to www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/
Steve Judd, Director of World Museum, said: “This is the first time we’ve been able to display Bush Crickets. We are sure our visitors will be excited to see them. With their arrival coming at the time of the third test we were keen to name them after cricketing stars.
“We were stumped thinking of a current Aussie star, so we’re naming one of them after former bowler Shane Warne.”
Paul Finnegan, Education Team Leader at World Museum, said: “Bush crickets are members of the grasshopper family. They are vegetarian and like nothing more than chewing on bramble. They sit still all day pretending to be leaves. So just like an Australian Ashes win, they are quite difficult to see.”
Bush cricket facts:
Good innings? We know very little about the lifespan of Bush Crickets. The ones at World Museum are making their debut and we hope to breed them.
Good length? These Bush Crickets are certainly long leg at four inches.
Hawk-eye? Bush crickets do not get on with birds of prey.
Nightwatchman? Definitely! – our crickets love the darkness when they ‘sing’ by making a continuous hum.
Home county: You do find Bush Crickets in the south of England but they are very common in North America.