Kerekes' Twitter username, "theashes," is similar to the sports most celebrated rivalry between Australia and England.
England's Kevin Pietersen, right, bowls near the end of the first Ashes cricket test against Australia in Brisbane, Australia, Monday, Nov. 29, 2010. The match ends in a draw with England 260 and 517/1 declared to Australia's 481 and 107/1. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)LONDON — A 22-year-old Massachusetts babysitter who knows nothing about cricket has been offered a trip to go watch a match in Australia because of a mixup over her Twitter name.
Ashley Kerekes of Westfield has a Twitter username of "theashes," similar to international cricket's most celebrated rivalry between Australia and England. Cricket fans from around the world bombarded her with messages after the 66th Ashes series began on Thursday. She issued a series of polite denials before lashing out in all caps that she was not, in fact a cricket match.
Of course, cheeky fans then encouraged others to follow her. Now she has over 8,400 followers and as her "fanbase" grew, her attitude appeared to soften. By Sunday, she was inquiring about the rules of the centuries-old game.
That prompted a campaign on the microblogging website to "gettheashestotheashes" and Australian airline Qantas then posted the following on its Twitter account: "Qantas wants to see theashes in Australia. We'll fly her from New York to Australia for the Ashes!"
Vodafone Australia has since offered to pay for her match tickets.
Her initial following of about 300 had swelled to more than 7,000 by Monday, and now she's by offering T-shirts for sale featuring her initial tweet.
The website of Australian newspaper Brisbane Times revealed her identity.
"I most certainly would not object to a free trip to Australia!" she told the newspaper. "I'm working with some people on some things.
"I intend on reading up on (the) rules and such as soon as I recover from the shock. Right now, I'm just having a blast reading everyone's tweets to me."
She explained that her boyfriend had given her the nickname The Ashes some years ago, hence her now infamous Twitter handle.
Now her account is littered with comments such as: "that'd be interesting to know if I knew what that meant" in response to a follower who helpfully informed her that England went "beyond 500 for the loss of one wicket in the 2nd innings" for the first time.