Watch: Former Australia batter Mark Waugh fell for a Twitter prank on live TV when he read out the fake names of three MCC members that were made up by a Twitter user.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) suspended three of its members for misbehaviour with members of the Australian team in the Long Room at Lord’s during the lunch break on day five of the second Ashes Test match. However, in their statement, the MCC did not name the three members.

A Twitter user by the name of Sean took the opportunity to give fake names to the three suspended members and posted MCC’s statement on his Twitter account, albeit with a key difference. His post included the three fake names while keeping everything else the same.

The tweet gained traction, with several media outlets picking it up and using the satirical names in the post believing them to be real names. It even reached live television, when Mark Waugh read out the names on a preview show for the third Test.

Waugh was in conversation with Michael Vaughan on the Ashes Preview on Fox: Third Test show. While revisiting the infamous incident in the Lord’s Long Room, Waugh read out the fake names from the Twitter post, assuming them to be the actual names of the three suspended members.

“What about this Vaughany, that the Long Room, the MCC members firing up at the Australians? I have never seen this before. But just before you speak about it Vaughany, I’ll give you the names of the three members who have been suspended. Now listen to these names.

“Number one: Bartholomew Frinton-Smythe, number two: Humphrey Wingbert-Porter, number three: Quinten Breckenridge. Average age of 85.”

If the surnames (two double-barrelled, one unusual), even the “average age” bit – stood out, Waugh did not notice. He read them out.

Watch Mark Waugh fall for the fake MCC members’ names Twitter prank:

Just Mark Waugh reading out the names of the suspended MCC old boys to Michael Vaughan on the ‘Ashes Preview on Fox: Third Test’ show 😭pic.twitter.com/idXYRPyR4r

— Sean (@shornKOOMINS) July 4, 2023

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