This year, the Dingbats are celebrating Zulu’s 50th, so, even without Dino and Azza, we may look back at ’25 as the Year Of Living Sensibly. The tally of last year’s mishaps exceeded everybody’s worst expectations. Two hospitalisations. Five missed games. Three-day conversations with God. Barefoot wanderers. Nurse-call buttons. Runaway primates. Lost wallets, phones, whites, shoes, bats, dignity.
The Dingbats have gone for ying-yang balance in this year’s squad: cricketers/Curly; youth/Shaxxi; no Jarrad/yes Shovels; Kyal’s in/Kyal’s in.
Proudly sponsored by THE SHOVEL and THE U.N. IRISH PUB.
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ANDREW HALL
"You're right for numbers. I better spend Easter with the family for once."
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DANIEL M
"Boys, my 50th, Chiang Mai. Be there or be a trannie's nut-sack."
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EDWARD KERSHAW
"Are the beers going to be cold enough for once??"
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IAN GASON
Everybody’s least favourite vagrant, Curly now enters his third year of international homelessness. After unsuccessfully cat-herding 17 tourists through earthquakes, ICUs, clip-joints and lost-monkey homes, the Sixes veteran claims this year his cricket will shine. Like a polished turd. Curly is due for a big one. Have that wheelchair ready.
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KYAL HILL
Mellow. Calm. Measured. That’s good Kyal. 20 years between his first and second tour, but then a mere 357 days for his third, indications are we might see a return of the burger stealing, plant pinching, shirt stripping Bad Kyal. Hamburger pounces on loose offerings, whether it’s a half-tracker outside leg, a cheese-burger in Smoker’s mitt, or walking down the stairs at Muse.
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MAX COOMBES
After years of cosplaying as Responsible Young Max, 2025 was the year the mask came off. The fella that lives in town, should be the one you can count on to be there, but Max got his dates wrong a lobbed up mid-week, and then slept through his second game. Yet, while his big hitting and safe hands have won the Dingbats many a game, but does anybody call him Maxi The Match Winner? No! But you lose one monkey…..
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NICK STEPANCICH
Normally a pretty loose unit, it says a lot about the mayhem of the 2025 tour that Shovels was the Voice Of Reason. While others ended up in ICU, lost their teammates' shoes or found God, Shovels sipped calmly on a pina colada or 12. Hoping to add to his tally of 1 run from 2025. This one goes to 11.
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PAUL SHACKLEFORD
The man least likely to get Spank The Monkey, Shax returns for his third (half) tour. Underneath that newsreader hair sits a big brain, totally out of place in the Dingbats tent. What his brain was doing when he lent Zulu his lovely red shoes is a mystery. Treats every run off his bowling as an affront to his dignity. Shax is a master of the long stare down the pitch with a chin scratch for every ball that doesn’t turn….which is most of them.
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PHIL WALKER
"I'll park wife & 2 kids in a van somewhere in Japan, line up some work in Adelaide and fly via Chiang Mai.....and piece together my last night in town."
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SHANE JACK
Hungry began his virgin tour talking big but when to came time to walk the walk, he was walking back with a golden duck, beguiled by a youthful 70 year old. Literally and figuratively keen to point things out, which is never a good idea in a fine session, he finished his first day not only runless but also legless, and some would say clueless. "And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" Loud, obnoxious, keeper/batsmen, opinionated, a veritable Temu Jarrad.
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STEVE BURKE
We can blame Burkey’s 50th for last year’s appearances of not only Jarrad, but Zulu, Azza and Hungry. Once an “every ten years” tourist, he’s back to help celebrate Zulu’s 50 retaaarded years on the ratty planet. Stable, responsible and calm under pressure, Burkey’s the man you need when your team-mate needs an ICU- just don’t let him monitor the visitors. Rumours of his cricketing demise should be treated with caution.
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TY MATTHEWS
One taste of Thailand and Ty had the bug. So keen to spend more time in these fair lands, he wondered if there was a market for sand in the south, a venture which was shut down before it could get out of bed. When not taking coals to Newcastle, he's capable of big scores on the field and on Loi Kroh. A bus driver on Melbourne's public transport network, Ty puts passenger safety first, except when the lights are amber.
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PETER HOSKING
Natural disasters have a habit of following Smoking' Pete. Not content to bring a tsunami to Phuket in 2004, he backed up in 2025 with a devastating earthquake, which left 1000s dead across Burma and Thailand. The Ultimate Team Man (TM), Smoker now refuses to stay with the team at what he calls "The Earthquake Hotel." Despite 3 decades in Asia, Pete is yet to learn the critical difference between a point and an opened palmed gesture.
And he wonders why he got the monkey!
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SPANK THE MONKEY
Tired of negligent, careless zoo-keepers, The Dingbats' loyal primate, jumped in a tuk-tuk, ran away from home and lived on the streets. Spank ran wild, roaming from town to town, and dyed his hair bright pink. He was found in faraway Isaan, and was coaxed back to his family.
A tortured metaphor for our failings, Spank will be a millstone around the neck of The Dingbat who makes the day's most colourful contribution.
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THE SHOVEL
www.theshovel.com.au
Run by James and Lachlan, an Australian media organisation that blatantly makes up stories so ridiculous, you have to laugh? No, not The Daily Telegraph. The Shovel, news you can believe in, a satirical publication happy to poke fun at left, right and centre, has supported The Dingbats for three years.
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U.N. IRISH PUB
The Tokyo Dingbats are proudly sponsored by Chiang Mai's best pub, the UN Irish Pub. Food, sports, beer-garden, bakery, live music and even a guest-house, Sandy and Boom are a big part of the Chiang Mai community, and great supporters of the Sixes. The Dingabts are grateful for their support and are confident that they will deliver Sandy's coveted Cup triumph....perhaps.
