One of the things we wanted to do in the latest version of cricket was to give each of the teams a unique feel when you played against them. We wanted the characters to have personality. Giving everyone stats and a name seemed like a good approach.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to name players from eight teams from all around the world? Being based in Australia, the Aussie names were easy. The Kiwis were fine, England was a piece of pie and the West Indies were pretty straight forward. South Africa was a little harder with the Afrikaan influences.

India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka proved more problematic. Reading an Indian’s full name can sometimes give you a life story, and may contain a host of information about his or her background and family history. Naturally, there are a number of different region-based names (and Indians from one region might not be familiar with the names from other areas), and there are names drawn from several different religious and lingual roots. Pakistan has many of the elements and adds tribal names, and borrows Islamic names from many areas around the globe, and tends to be much more heavily based on given, rather than family names.

Sri Lanka is graced with some of the world’s longest names. In 2007, the Italian government decided to take online applications for government jobs but many Sri Lankans found their applications rejected out of hand. After some complaints and a little investigation it was found that the problem was the unusual length of some of the Sri Lankan names. Language-wise you have names with roots in Sinhalese, Tamil, English and creole Portuguese.

We’re looking for feedback on these names. Sometimes a Thomas Edison or Danny Crane will accidentally slip through. If you see any cultural problems with the names like mixing Sihk names with Muslim names or two first or family names appearing together, let us know. Heck, if you just hate a name drop us a line.

NB: The names are meant to represent the general feel of the teams and the players. Some are strongly inspired by particular players while others are a more of combination job.

Australia
Peter Cruise
Ryan Clarkson
Nick King
Mark Busey
Nathan Parke
Mica South
Brett Mason
Mitch Jones
Bart Cole
Nelson Doritch
Paul Sizemore

England
Adam House
Alexander Tuck
Rajiv Bhadkamkar
Colin Peircen
David Haywood
Nate Proctor
Allan Edwards
Steven Lord
Gregory Swain
Jules Branson
George Union

India
Gaurav Ghatori
Devendra Shekhawat
Roshan Dixit
Suresh Joglekar
VRS Nayar
Anil Saxena
NS Shrimali
Darvesh Suri
Lokesh Kole
Joseph Peter
Ashok Parekh

New Zealand
Tom McIntire
Michael Gantree
Darren Klim
Roger Naylor
Jay Nyder
Brenton Calloway
Jason Occum
Damien Vitulo
Myles Hill
Paavan Mehta
Daniel Uptown

Pakistan
Kashif Manaf
Zaman Afeef
Bashir Marwat
Aslam Zahid
Salim Akram
Mohammad Aamir
Zain Khaliq
Saif Roshina
Abdul Rafiq
Masud Rami
Anwar Wasif

South Africa
Grant Simms
Nigel McKeen
Percival Biggs
Francis Dallas
Adam Milles
John Jiminy
Michael Bordelle
Albert Mierevelt
Jonah Bothan
Peter Harrison
Daryl Searle

Sri Lanka
Nuwan Wijeweeras
Sanjeev Jayaratne
Insith Ranawaka
Nilantha Jayatilleke
Kannan Senanayake
Thilak de Silva
Andre Nichols
Nayana Kapuwatte
Dharuna Mylvaganam
Nalin Tudugale
Ranuga Malavige

West Indies
Carlton Hale
Deon Simms
Lakshman Sanwariya
Markandeya Odedara
Manav Vikram
Blaine Carvo
Darren Bollard
Darrion Tamby
Jeremy Tyler
Philip Edgars
Linus Bastion

So, what do you think? Oh, and yes, we’re adding Sri Lanka to the team roster. ;p