AN American woman is stumped as to why she's become a hit among cricket fans worldwide - thanks to Twitter and the opening Ashes Test.

Cricket fans across England and Australia have turned to Twitter to share their thoughts on the Test series and have found @theashes on the social networking service.

The woman, from Westfield, Massachusetts, writes mostly about knitting and her toddler, but it hasn't stopped hundreds of people from sending her messages and asking for score updates.

At first she was amused by the sudden attention, but it quickly lost its novelty.

"I am not a cricket match. Stop mentioning me and check profiles before you send messages. It's really annoying," she wrote.

But her irritation only prompted others to re-tweet her comments to hundreds more.

The teasing spread fast with Twitter users encouraging others to follower her to get the latest Ashes updates.

She now has more than 4100 followers - up from a few hundred people before the Ashes series began - and her frustration is clearly evident: "I AM NOT A FREAKING CRICKET MATCH!!!"

Cricket tweeters, however, are urging the woman to accept her fate as a new icon.

"It seems to have caught on! Your chance to influence thousands of people," one wrote.

"You're very popular, m'dear!" wrote another.

At the very least, the Twitter trend is a chance to teach Americans a thing or two about cricket.

One of her latest posts shows she now has a few questions about the game.

"What the hell is a wicket?" she pondered.

Originally published as Just not cricket, says Ashes tweeter