“Do you know the Muffin Man? The Muffin Man? The Muffin Man... The Muffin Man who lives on Drury Lane?’ THE MUFFIN MAN!!!”

Anyone who tuned in to watch the Melbourne Renegades playing the Brisbane Heat during BBL|7 would not have expected to hear ’Gades wicketkeeper Tim Ludeman recite lines from children’s movie Shrek— and in the high-pitched voice of ‘Gingy’ the Gingerbread Man as he’s being interrogated by Lord Farquaad, no less.

But he did, mic’d up while keeping, and the popular gloveman has promised to add more famous voices to his repertoire this summer, which includes former prime minister John Howard and British naturalist David Attenborough.

“I used to do a lot of impersonations when I was younger,’ said Ludeman. ‘I forgot I could do them and I just started back up again. The reason why I agreed to be mic’d up a few years ago (when he impersonated John Howard on air for the first time during BBL|5) was to show there’s another side to the players.

“A lot of them don’t like putting themselves out there, so they do the clichéd stuff. However, there’s a lot more to players and I wanted to provide some comedy value to it.”

While Ludeman’s impersonations regularly set social media ablaze and leave the commentators in stitches, he doubts whether unleashing his vocal madness from behind the stumps has any impact on the batters.

“I don’t think they can hear me... they’d be in the zone. It’s just a bit of fun. Guys like Brad Hodge and Brendon McCullum are very good at letting viewers know what is happening at certain stages of the match, and their wealth of experience allows for them to be able to predict what will happen before it does. It all adds to the coverage and the entertainment.”

Ludeman, who has been ranked by some as the best gloveman in Australia, is preparing for his second summer in the fire engine-red battle colours of the Renegades. He revealed something that excited him about linking up with the Melbourne team was the opportunity to work with first-year coach Andrew McDonald.

“He’s fresh out of the game, so he has played T20 and he’s one of the coaches who ‘get’ the game quite well. It was good to play under him.

“The Renegades have put together a very good squad and I’ve also found playing under the roof of our home ground has been brilliant.”

 After playing for Adelaide from 2012–17, where he was a rock in their top order, Ludeman couldn’t help but feel pleased when the Strikers won the BBL|7 crown – given he was cut from their roster at the end of 2017.

“I was happy for Adelaide,” he said. “They played well throughout the tournament, they’re good people, so credit to them.

“Although it hurt to be beaten by them by one run in our semi final. We mucked that up a bit... One ball can change a game.”