Cricket: Mugs out on social media for Movember

George Worker may be the front runner in winning the in-house Movember social media competition. PHOTO/Paul Taylor

Pencil, handlebar, toothbrush, Chevron or Fu Manchu - take your pick because that's what'll matter come Saturday, December 10.

Spot the mustachioed bloke wearing any one of the variations for Central Districts Stags in their McDonald's Super Smash T20 match against Northern Districts Knights at Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth, from 7.10pm on Sky Sport and be comfortable in the knowledge that whatever the result of the game he'll be a winner.

Or will he be?

Most of the Central Districts Stags players have taken part in Movember this summer and will keep their upper-lip growth for a while yet although November quietly slipped by on Wednesday.

"At the moment we all have disgraceful upper lips and there's a little competition going on with mugshots showing our mous have been put up on social media," says CD captain William Young of the Stags' first televised game.

"The person with the most likes has to keep their mou for the first televised game," says Young.

The Stags host the Otago Volts at the same time on Friday, December 16, at McLean Park, the only one in Napier this season.

"There's a bit of banter among players on who that'll be [the mou winner] but it's interesting and for a good cause," he says of a ritual dedicated each year for the health and wellbeing of men.

Young wasn't going to be drawn into who the top contender is but it'll be hard to go past the rugged George Worker who has a modelling career of sorts on the backburner, if what former English import Peter Trego alluded to in previous T20 summers is anything to go by.

The selfish element, in a sport that masquerades as a team one but where one lives and dies by their individual performances, gives way to a sense of camaraderie fostered through majority of players coming through the ranks together in a relatively young CD squad.

Young will be wearing the skipper's armband for the first time in the T20 campaign after taking over as captain midway through the season from retired South African-born ex-
Black Cap Kruger van Wyk during the first-class campaign last summer.

"It poses different challenges but it's something I'm excited about and looking forward to."

Young accepts he'll have to be mentally quicker on his feet in T20 in a game where setting the field with composure is as imperative as ticking the run rate as balls whiz past one's ears to clatter over the boundary ropes and hoardings.

"You're under stricter time lines and the game can end pretty quickly so you have to make decisions pretty smartly."

Having the support of some of the senior blokes will, no doubt, help his cause.