England T20 cricket star Phil Salt’s shirt number could upset Man Utd fans

Manchester United fans are likely to hate the reason behind cricket star Phil Salt’s shirt number that he will be rocking in England’s match vs Oman.

Salt has previously revealed that the reason he wears the number 61 is a reminder of United’s 6-1 defeat to their rivals Manchester City. The 27-year-old is a lifelong City fan and discussed his love for the club in an interview with them in 2022.

The World Cup winner with the England cricket team attended his first game at City’s old ground, Maine Road, and has enjoyed the club’s recent successes.

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Speaking to the official City website about his England shirt number back in 2022, Salt said: “Obviously, I don’t need to explain to any city fans why six one is so important to me but you know, it sort of annoys me a bit because I’ve had that number since I made my debut for England.

“But it’s not really the right way round because obviously it [the game] was at Old Trafford. So this year, I changed my number for Manchester to one six, just to get that right.”

Salt’s number 61 on his jersey is paying homage to the famous 6-1 City win over rivals United at Old Trafford back in 2011. This was City’s biggest ever win in the derby and their biggest win at Old Trafford since they won 5-0 in 1955.

Due to the game being an away fixture for City, the real scoreline would read 1-6 for the club – so as Salt explained, he swapped his number to 16 when playing for Lancashire in order to commemorate this historic win.

In the same interview, Salt also celebrated the downward spiral City’s closest rivals have endured in recent years. The cricket star discussed growing up in north Wales, saying: “There was always United fans and plenty of Liverpool fans as well.

“But, you know, thankfully they’re dying out now they’ve had a few rough years – which is great to see. So, you do see a lot more blues popping up around the place.”

Salt will face up against Oman with his fellow England squad on Thursday, June 13 in the group stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. You can watch the match live on Sky Sports from 7:30pm UK time, and the action gets underway at 8pm.

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