The Masked Singer’s Cricket’s identity ‘exposed’ as fans spot costume double meaning before first performance

And in typical The Masked Singer style, they’ll also be putting their deception skills to the test to try and throw the judges off the scent as to who they really are.

In Saturday’s premiere, Cricket takes on Maypole in a head-to-head battle round before Bigfoot faces Dippy Egg and Weather goes toe to toe with Rat.

Very little has been officially announced about who the celeb in Cricket could be but the costume has already sparked floods of guesses from fans who are convinced it holds a major giveaway.

As if the name wasn’t enough, Cricket is also decked head to toe in cricketing gear, including helmet visors, arm pads, and shin guards.

Therefore, a number of the Masked Singer fandom have made the leap that it must be someone prolific in the world of cricket.

On Instagram, it soon became clear the fandom was swayed by the double meaning in the costume as one Masked Singer fan mused on a post dedicated to the character: “A cricketer or maybe that’s a red herring?”

A second similarly questioned: “Ah, but will it be a real cricketer?” followed by a wink emoji.

Others went as far as to name the person they think is behind the mask: “This is Stuart Broad I already have a feeling.”

This was backed up by a handful of other sports fans who are convinced they’ve identified Broad as Cricket before he’s even taken to the stage.

Broad, 37, is widely regarded as one of England’s best-ever test bowlers, becoming one of a few cricketers to bag 600 wickets before announcing his retirement earlier this year.

He’s also engaged to The Saturdays singer Mollie King so with his work diary now freed up, could he have been getting singing tips from his other half?

While Broad has emerged as a likely candidate with fans, it’s two other former cricketers that bookmakers think could be under the disguise.

James Leyfield, Betting Expert at Gambling.com, has claimed: “While ‘Cricket’ appears to be an insect, rather than a character representing the sport, the person behind the mask could well be someone from the game.

“With this in mind, Phil Tufnell and Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff are both fancied to play the character – with both boasting a price of 6/1 to feature on the program.”

Tufnell is no stranger to reality TV stints having won I’m A Celebrity in 2003, taken on Channel 4’s The Jump and performed on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

Flintoff could also make a return to screens following his exit from Top Gear which the Beeb shelved following his crash on the show last year.