BRISBANE (Reuters)
Australian batsman Michael Slater has been told he can keep his original Test cap number of 356 after he had the number tattooed on his ankle only to make the grim discovery that his real number was 357. Australia's cricketers are given cap numbers indicating the order in which they made their debut for Australia. Slater had always believed he was 356th on the list after he made his debut against England in 1993 so he had the number tattooed on his ankle and bought a 356 number plate for his sports car. But Slater was recently told that he had been misinformed and his real number was actually 357. The confusion was caused because Brendon Julian also made his debut in the same match. Slater was told he would be ranked ahead of Julian because he batted first, effectively making his debut before Julian. However, under ACB rules, players who debut in the same match should be numbered alphabetically, meaning Julian was 356 and Slater 357. But the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) decided after speaking to both players that their numbers would remain unchanged in this case. ACB chief executive officer James Sutherland said: "We understand that Michael was told he was 356 and as a result has always acted accordingly. He has obviously gone to great lengths to demonstrate his pride not only in that cap number but also in playing for Australia and that is something to be applauded. Given these fairly exceptional circumstances, we are happy to let Michael retain the number 356. "There has never been a hard and fast rule to cater for this situation, but to avoid any possible misunderstandings in future, from now on if more than one player makes their debuts in the same match, the allocation of cap numbers will be done alphabetically and not by batting order." Slater has played 74 Tests for Australia, scoring 5,312 runs at an average of 42.83. The dashing right-handed opener has also scored 14 test centuries but lost his place in the starting to team to Justin Langer before this year's fifth Ashes Test against England.

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