Menacing mos maketh the men, and girls
Dennis Lillee, Merv Hughes and Mitchell Johnson - three feared Australian fast bowlers with more in common than just pace and bounce.
When Johnson charges in to bowl this week at the WACA, he will follow in the footsteps of the former firebrands by sporting a menacing mo.
"It's been quite crazy how the mo's just taken off and people are talking about it," Johnson said.
"As soon as I started getting the attention and everyone was saying, 'It brings back those days of Dennis and Merv', there was a little bit of inspiration from that.
"I'll never have the gold chains and the hairy chest but I'm enjoying it at the moment."
Evidence would suggest a synergy between the mo and Johnson's destruction of the English batsmen so far this series - a theory the 32-year-old did not dismiss outright.
"I guess it's a bit manlier. Maybe it's the shape with the handlebars, maybe it just looks aggressive," he said.
Originally grown for Movember, a $10,000 donation from Gillette Proglide has prompted Johnson to keep the moustache until the end of the Ashes.
His mo is approaching cult status and to further intimidate the Poms The West Australian is publishing cut-out moustaches in the newspaper today and tomorrow.
"I think that would be pretty cool and it's only going to promote men's health more," he said.
Friends Steph Sbrocco, Sophie Parkes and Sarah Clark, who work for Corporate Sports Australia, will be attending the first three days of the Test and tried out the fake moustaches yesterday.
"We've grown up watching cricket," Ms Sbrocco said.
"Mitchell Johnson has done really well in the past two Test matches, and being able to watch him play at the WACA is going to be really exciting."
