Rudd 'one of luckiest men in world'

Reuters

LUCKY: Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning has labelled Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd 'one of the luckiest men in the world'.

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Kevin Rudd has a new nickname: "One of the Luckiest Men in the Entire World".

The Australian prime minister has been slapped with a few monikers over the years including Kevin 07, Kevin747, The Pixie, Harry Potter and from his Queensland state political budget slashing days, Dr Death.

The latest came under the Caribbean sun and coconut trees of Trinidad and Tobago and in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and heads of state from more than 50 Commonwealth nations.

Rudd was quietly sitting with other leaders during the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) when Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning walked to the podium.

"If you permit me ladies and gentlemen to extend a special welcome to one of the luckiest men I know in the entire world," Manning said dryly.

"He is Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia."

Few knew where Manning was heading.

But, of course, it should not be a surprise.

There are three topics of conversation in Trinidad and Tobago – cricket, cricket and cricket.

In between preparing his tiny country (birthplace of Brian Lara) to host the Queen and leaders of more than two billion people at CHOGM, Manning apparently was keeping a close eye on the Australia-West Indies Test match at the Gabba.

Rudd, Manning told his VIP audience, was lucky because the Australians averted a major disaster on the first day of the Test when opener Shane Watson was out for a duck, but the buttery-fingered West Indies couldn't capitalise and the Australians went on to score 480.

"It was 0/1 and then it was dropped catches. He is indeed very lucky," Manning, referring to Rudd, said.

Manning was not finished.

He had other leaders of cricketing nations to jibe.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also in the audience.

"If he (Rudd) does not understand what I mean by that, I would suggest he has a discussion with the very distinguished Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, a country from which a Trinidad and Tobago cricket team has just returned with results that I am sure he will be pleased to share with my good friend from Australia," Manning continued.

Manning still wasn't finished.

Next he had Brown in his sights and poked fun at the English cricket team.

"I know there is a curious and deafening silence from the very distinguished Gordon Brown of Great Britain," he told the crowd.

It was a cocky address from the Trinidad and Tobago leader.

Goodness knows what he would have been like if the West Indies actually had a chance of winning the Gabba test.

- AAP