Why do we like Monty Panesar ?

Phil Dye explores this in SMH and concludes that he is 'Panesar for Cricket ills'

Extract

"The release of the new film version of Charlotte's Web last month was within a few days of the English spinner Monty Panesar bowling his first Test delivery on Australian soil. The two events aren't linked, but there's something very similar in the lovable Wilbur in Charlotte's Web and the man we'd really like to call our own but can't.

There's something special about Panesar. Not special in the same way as Shane Warne or Glenn McGrath, but special all the same. The chap in my bottle shop reckons he's the 'next big thing' and a Google search shows 1.7 million mentions of the bloke. On day one of the fifth Test in Sydney parts of the crowd sported beards and headwear just like Panesar. YouTube even has a song about him. It must be serious.

But what is it about this man that makes even non-cricket followers admire him? Like Wilbur in Charlotte's Web, Panesar seems the epitome of enthusiastic naivety. Just as Wilbur the pig is left out of the barnyard family for being a 'runt', Monty was left out of the first two Tests for reasons only the English cricket administration understands. When Wilbur is finally embraced by the barnyard family, all he wants to do is play, and Panesar is seemingly the same now he has been given his chance in the English T
Test team."

Full article here

A Panesar for cricket's ills - Opinion - smh.com.au: