Former Australia cricket captain Meg Lanning’s likeness has appeared in a widely criticised promotional video for the Manchester Super Giants.
Lanning signed with a Hundred franchise in January, shortly after it was controversially renamed from the Manchester Originals.
The name change came after the team was bought by Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjiv Goenka.
The billionaire marked the name change on social media with an AI video, and the team has now followed suit, with a rendered video complete with all the classic hallmarks of AI content.
Lanning sports a smooth, strangely shiny face in the middle of the video while holding a bat adorned with stickers, and says nothing.
Famed Mancunian pub, The Peveril of the Peak, is shown pretty accurately, but the taxi waiting outside will likely be in some trouble with the dibble because its licence plate is pure gibberish.
Good luck reporting this taxi to the Old Bill. (Instagram: Manchester Super Giants)
At one point, opening batter Aiden Markram appears to be bowling in the wrong direction, away from batters dressed for a Test match.
There is also a female player, potentially Australian Maitlan Brown, who is clenching her fists and saying nothing in particular.
She is very excited, but that jewellery is probably unwise while playing. (Instagram: Manchester Super Giants)
But perhaps the pièce de résistance is the appearance of a diving catch by a wicketkeeper.
In classic fashion, anything more than a passing glance shows a slew of inaccuracies.
This is either a poorly rendered wicketkeeper or a batter blatantly handling the ball. (Instagram: Manchester Super Giants)
The most obvious error is that the wicketkeeper appears to be wearing batting gloves while taking a sensational diving catch.
The fielder, potentially AI’s attempt at a Jos Buttler likeness, is also wearing batting pads and diving in front of a fully illuminated light tower in the middle of the day.
Meantime, fielders and an umpire dressed in whites stand behind him, raising the question of exactly where on the field this is supposed to be.
Popular Instagram account The Wicket Keeping Coach said they had “A few questions about the wicket keeper”, while most other commenters lamented the use of AI and the lack of labelling on the post.
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Others took issue with the promo apparently attempting to unite Manchester United and Manchester City fans by bragging about the red and blue colour scheme, with a song over the top of the ad proclaiming:
“Red in the dark, blue in the sea.”
Whatever that means.
Some of the other lyrics include:
“All jaws no sound, rain on the glass, ground shaking down;
“Keep it locked, keep it tight, hold that fire inside;
…
“Breathe with the crowd, feel what I mean;
“Hold hold hold, wait for the hit; one more second then all of it.”
The ad is part of a trend within cricket of players being poorly rendered in promotional content.
During last year’s Women’s World Cup, similar images of players were used, including Australia captain, Alyssa Healy.
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Fans speculated that the images were artificially generated and questioned why they were used despite countless promotional photographs being taken at major tournaments.
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