A section of the famous painting hanging up at the late great Shane Warne’s home, with the legend himself having a smoke (far left).

Cricket is taken incredibly seriously by millions of people worldwide. It is also really, really funny.

The fact that it’s traditionally considered “the gentleman’s game” helps, as when uncouth moments rear up and subvert that absurd notion, it feels perhaps a little more taboo, or intrusive, than what it would in other sports.

Perhaps the sheer length of the game also has something to do with it. As non-devotees will often observe, cricket can feature plenty of down time.

The mind and conversation, as evidenced below, can easily wander into surreal territories during those long, arduous hours in the field. Sometimes one has to make one’s own fun.

It’s also simply a ridiculous sport. In its purest form; five days long, after which roughly 25 per cent of matches are declared to have no winner.

It involves Player A hurtling a hard leather rock, sometimes at 140km/h, at the body of Player B – an action that would see you dragged before the court of law in polite society. Luckily, however, Player B is armed with a chunk of wood to defend themselves.

Point being, the whole thing is fertile ground for good humour. Today on Footyology, to mark the beginning of the summer of line, length and levity, we present but a few of the many case studies on the innate hilarity of the most outrageous game of all.

Warnie’s painting

Where else can you start? This self-commissioned art piece represents everything we loved about the late, great Shane Warne. The image itself is widely known, although well worth another peruse. His description here is note perfect, right down to the rapid descent into “banter”, and abrupt edit.

Lord Gower hobbles away

An unexpected shattering of cricket’s courtly airs and graces. This is best consumed if you don’t know what’s coming, so it’s enough to point out that much of the hilarity lies in the fact that the victim here is “Lord” David Gower, archetypal English cricket high society alumni.

A thoughtful insult from Roy

Language warning.

This is funny for a number of reasons, not least because it’s pure ‘Symmo’. His reaction to being clonked in the ribs by the bat of Mahela Jaywardene is, of course, completely unwarranted. But the spontaneity of his barb is what makes it so good.

The reactions of Bill Lawry and Mark Taylor, who are charged with the task of pretending that a new great Aussie catch phrase had not just been beamed into millions of living rooms via their stump mic, is another hilarious example of cricket’s polite facade.

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Dirty Rotten Pizza

As anyone who’s played (or watched) Test match cricket would know, the monotony of the game can occasionally induce absurd discourse.

This phenomenon was exemplified during the 2014 Boxing Day Test when Warne and company discussed pizza, both dirty rotten and gourmet, for a bit too long.

In this stint, the cricket first gets mentioned more than two minutes in and is barely considered again.

The poll is a classic, and James Brayshaw is lambasted as some kind of silver-spoon-modern-day-metrosexual for preferring … lamb and goat cheese.

This bit caused a stir at the time, and some said Nine’s broadcast had finally jumped the shark.

Courtney Walsh laughing at Colin “Funky” Miller’s hair

Colin Miller sporting bright blue hair in a serious test match is pretty funny. After all, cricket is supposed to be played by men and women of honour.

Did Bradman ever doff his baggy green to reveal a shock of freshly-dyed cobalt locks? As most photos of The Don during his playing career are in black and white, we can’t be sure. However, it seems highly unlikely.

What’s even funnier, however, is Courtney Walsh finding the situation so amusing. Seeing someone break up when they’re supposed to keep it together is one of life’s great joys, especially when it’s a famously locked-in number 11 who’s about to go out any minute.

It’s a day made for eating naga chillies

The boys club talking about Dirty Rotten Pizza for five-and-a-half minutes straight in the middle of a Test match? A true low point for cricket broadcasting, Channel Nine, the media and society in general.

Harsha Bhogle dedicating nine minutes to coercing Kerry O’Keeffe into eating a mystery chilli while calling a match for the ABC? Charming, brilliant, original wit from two legends of cricket commentary.

There are countless O’Keeffe moments from the glory days of ABC Grandstand that have a home on this list. But this exchange, in which O’Keeffe played the unfamiliar role of the fall guy, is like a classic comedy sketch with endless one-liners, character arcs, a live studio audience and a beauty of a punchline.

“Watch to the end” is an internet cliche, but it’s safe to say that this routine contains a scorcher of a twist.

Virat Kohli’s Surya Kumar Yadav tweet

A fresh case from only two weeks ago. Intentional or otherwise, King Kohli slyly points out that as impressed as he is with his teammate’s form, he simply had better things to do on the day. Outstanding stuff, and startlingly familiar to anyone who isn’t the best player in their team.