God bless Mammy and Daddy, my brothers and sisters, and, er...the others

Snickers Man

Rather puzzling piece of mathematical incorrectness from the Daily Telegraph today, reporting on the call up of Irish born Ed Joyce to the England Cricket team.


The offending passage reads:

Joyce comes from a family of nine children and has two brothers and two sisters. He joined Middlesex in 2000 and struck his maiden first-class hundred the following season.

So what are the other four? The mind boggles.

mike65

Nine children? He can't be the "right sort" of chap to play cricket then!

http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:2adN-_S_hyQJ:uk.sports.yahoo.com/11112006/28/women-100-caps-man-99.html+ed+joyce+nine+children&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&client=opera

Mike.

Gurgle

Snickers Man wrote:

Joyce comes from a family of nine children and has two brothers and two sisters. He joined Middlesex in 2000 and struck his maiden first-class hundred the following season.

So what are the other four? The mind boggles.

More thoroughly researched reporting by the Telegraph.

Snickers Man

mike65 wrote:

Nine children? He can't be the "right sort" of chap to play cricket then!

http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:2adN-_S_hyQJ:uk.sports.yahoo.com/11112006/28/women-100-caps-man-99.html+ed+joyce+nine+children&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&client=opera

Mike.

Actually that link suggests that the Telegraph gaffe may have been due to careless use of the scalpel at subbing time. My guess is it should have read 'has two brothers and two sisters who have also played international cricket.'

First rule of cutting to fit: Doesn't matter what you cut out, just make sure that what is left makes sense.