Heatherhill Cricket Club captain Roger ‘Reggie’ Crew’s record for losing coin tosses
A Mornington Peninsula cricket captain is making a play for an unlikely off-field world record, surpassing the likes of Indian star MS Dhoni on the way. And the hype surrounding his year-long losing streak is drawing an ever-increasing crowd.
South East
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Heatherhill Cricket Club may have set a world record — and it will take some tossing.
It involves the club’s Sixth XI captain Roger “Reggie’’ Crew, who has lost 14 tosses in a row.
The streak started in Round 11 last season and has gained momentum — and interest.
Lately, Crew’s pre-game toss has become quite an event with crowds gathering and photos being taken.
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When Heatherhill took on Mornington last month, Crew and his opposition skipper Michael Voss played up to hype, wearing Hawaiian shirts to the toss and making it quite a razzle-dazzle event.
“We thought Vossy had the potential to lose the toss against him but, no, ‘Reggie’ came through,” Heatherhill player Bob Skelly said.
Skelly has researched to see if another cricket captain has been on such a sustained toss-loss streak, even calculating the odds of it happening.
“The odds of losing 14 tosses in a row is 16384/1,” Skelly said.
“There is no record registered in the Guinness Book of Records for anyone losing this many tosses in a row. The best we can find is MS Dhoni who lost the toss for the ninth consecutive occasion in 2010 equalling the record set by Sunil Gavaskar in 1981/1982.
“Heatherhill are going to lodge an application to register Reggie’s achievement as a world record when his losing streak run finally comes to an end in the coming weeks, months or years.”
So, what is the secret of his success?
Crew says he doesn’t believe in the “tails-never-fails’’ theory and varied his call from game to game depending on his mood.
“People have been giving me tips at training,’’ he said.
“They’ve said to call tails all the time. When it’s my turn to call I call whatever mood I’m in.’’
Crew’s streak will go on the line on Saturday when Heatherhill hosts Skye at Baxter Park. The coin goes up at about 12.30pm.
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