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Phil Salt’s reason for England cricket number will leave Man United fans livid

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6 months ago

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Phil Salt’s reason for England cricket number will leave Man United fans livid

Phil Salt is a lifelong Manchester City fan and has previously explained the reason behind him wearing the number 61 on his England cricket shirt he’ll have at the T20 World Cup

Phil Salt of England bats during the 5th T20 International between the West Indies and England(Ashley Allen/Getty Images)

Manchester United supporters might well be irked by the story behind cricketer Phil Salt’s notable shirt number he’ll don during the T20 World Cup, with England facing Oman first up.

Avid City fan Salt has previously explained that he wears the number 61 as an homage to Manchester City’s famous 6-1 derby win over Manchester United. The 27-year-old, who is totally devoted to his boyhood club, discussed this in depth during a 2022 interview.




Being part of the England cricket squad that secured the ODI World Cup, he fondly remembers attending matches at City’s former home, Maine Road, and he’s been loving the club’s success in recent years. Salt also talked about his peculiar England shirt number while chatting with City’s official website.

“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,” Salt said.

He added (via the Manchester Evening News): “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.”

His number 61 shirt is a constant reminder of City’s sensational 6-1 thrashing of neighbours United at Old Trafford back in 2011. It marked City’s largest ever margin of victory in the derby and their biggest success at Old Trafford since the 5-0 drubbing handed out in 1955.

Manchester City fans taunt Manchester United fans about their 6-1 victory (Photo by AMA/Corbis via Getty Images)(AMA/Corbis via Getty Images)

As the match took place on enemy territory, the true scoreline would be listed as 1-6 in City’s books. That’s how Salt decided to commemorate this historic triumph by switching his jersey number to 16 when he represents Lancashire.

In a candid chat, Salt couldn’t help but express his delight over the recent struggles of City’s fiercest rivals. Growing up in north Wales, he was surrounded by United and Liverpool supporters and said: “There was always United fans and plenty of Liverpool fans as well.

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