US woman @theashes becomes Twitter (and cricket) celebrity

[T_i_B]

The big in-joke from Twitter.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/208688/us-woman-theashes-becomes-twitter-celebrity

A US woman with the Twitter name @theashes who was bombarded by messages about cricket was offered a free flight to Australia and started selling her own commemorative T-shirt Monday.

The Massachusetts woman, who usually tweets about knitting and the "Glee" TV show, was the subject of a Twitter campaign, #gettheashestotheashes, after snapping at microblogs about the Ashes series between Australia and England.

"I AM NOT A FREAKING CRICKET MATCH!!!" read an exasperated message on Saturday. "This is not the account of the cricket match. Check profiles before you send mentions, it's incredibly annoying and rude," she wrote earlier.

However, @theashes, whose real name is unknown, later softened her tone, enquiring "what the hell is a wicket?" and admitting she didn't know whether to support Australia or England. Meanwhile #gettheashestotheashes sparked a torrent of interest with Qantas Airways offering a free flight from New York, as Ashes sponsor Vodafone pledged free tickets and a phone and a Ford dealer stumped up a car for her use.