Warwick Todd is a fictional character created by author and comedian Tom Gleisner

Tom Gleisner

Tom Gleisner is an Australian director, producer, writer, comedian, occasional actor and author. He was educated at Xavier College in Melbourne, Australia.-Television, radio and film:...

. Todd is the author of four fictional cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 diaries: The Warwick Todd Diaries (1997), Warwick Todd: Back in the Baggy Green (1998), Warwick Todd Goes the Tonk (2001) and Warwick Todd - Up in the Block Hole (2009). The first 3 books in the series were Australian bestsellers.

The diaries, recounting Todd's experiences as a member of the Australian cricket team

Australian cricket team

The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...

, are a humorous parody

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

 of the tour diaries and cricketing memoirs that are a staple of the Australian publishing industry.

In contrast to Billy Birmingham

Billy Birmingham

Billy Birmingham is an Australian humourist and sometime sports journalist, most noted for his parodies of Australian cricket commentary in recordings under The Twelfth Man name. He was the writer of the comedy hit Australiana which was made famous by performer Austen Tayshus...

's The Twelfth Man

The Twelfth Man

The Twelfth Man is the name for a series of comedy productions by Australian satirist Billy Birmingham. Birmingham, a skilled impersonator, is generally known for parodying Australian sports commentators' voices...

, Todd's diaries describe real-life matches played by the Australian cricket team, albeit including Todd as a player. Off-field behaviour, however, is completely fictional and quite at odds with the team's public image.

In keeping with the "blokey" style of many tour diaries, Todd refers to all players and support staff by their nickname

Nickname

A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....

s and not their real names (for example, "Pigeon" is Glenn McGrath

Glenn McGrath

Glenn Donald McGrath AM , nicknamed "Pigeon", is a former Australian cricket player. He is one of the most highly regarded fast-medium pace bowlers in cricketing history, and a leading contributor to Australia's domination of world cricket from the mid-1990s to the early 21st century...

 and "Dizzy" is Jason Gillespie

Jason Gillespie

Jason Neil Gillespie is an Australian cricketer who formerly represented Australia at international level, in both Tests and One Day Internationals, and South Australia, Yorkshire and Glamorgan at first-class level. His primary role is as a right-arm fast-medium bowler, but he is also a competent...

).

Gleisner has made live appearances as Warwick Todd for charity cricket matches.