The Cricket

5th January 2007

Ok, we all know about The Ashes. That's best forgotten about. One-Day cricket is all the rage these days! Chewie, Mike and I went to the fourth, and final day, of the fifth test. Although we only saw a couple of hours worth of play we did get to see Warne and McGrath say goodbye to their International careers, so that was pretty historic I guess (although I think McGrath is going to play in the World Cup). It was also very, very hot. The SCG is a fantastic stadium and I lucked out with the tickets as we sat in some very good seats.

Naturally I took a few pictures and this video.

The Barmy Army were sat just to my right and were in good voice all the way through the two hours, and during the Australian celebrations (or lack of!) after the game had finished and Warney etc were going through the motions.

9th January 2007

I also went to the Twenty20 which was a good laugh. Well, I enjoyed seeing the Aussies set a World Twenty20 record score but I didn't enjoy watching England play badly. I was sat at the front of the Donald Bradman stand for this one and had another cracking view. The sunset was a beauty.

2nd February 2007

I was there! Yes, when England beat Australia in the One-Dayer at the SCG. When I left Manly it was overcast, and drizzle was in the air. By the time I got to the ground for the start of the match the sun was out. I had no suncream, no sunnies and no shorts. I was in trouble. I guess it was a good thing that the beer was only 'light'. What a game though. I took some videos (here, here and here).

11th February 2007

I was there (again!)

Having watched the superbly exciting first game of the One-Day series final in a bar on Friday night, I was really looking forward to yesterday's game. The atmosphere in the bar was great – Poms on one side, Aussies on the other – so I was hoping for more of the same at the SCG.

Ok, it was a shame we didn't skittle them out on the pitch, and the rain forced a decision to be made when the players were off the pitch, but we'll take victory over the Aussies any which way. In fact, it was nice to see the rain work in our favour for once. How good is it watching Gilchrist getting bowled out? And what a catch by Dalrymple!

After we lost the Ashes in such spectacular style I predicted we would bounce back and win the One-Day series. Understandably, no-one took me seriously. If only I had put a bet on it.

So, in my first summer of cricket Down Under I have seen an historic day in the Ashes, a world record-breaking Twenty20 game and two superb England displays in the One-Dayers. The atmosphere in each game was cracking and there is something quite endearing about the Pommy/Aussie sledging that goes on. I was sat a few seats away from that Jimmy character yesterday. At the start of the game he was sat with what looked like two other founding members (one of whom was dressed like Aladdin, rubbing a ball and chain which was thrown at Nathan Bracken and Glen McGrath). By the end there must’ve been about 50 – not so much a Barmy Army but a Barmy Expat Army. Great fun.

Unfortunately I left my camera at home yesterday so haven’t got any pictures to publish. I'm sure you've all seen the pictures on the news or on the web though.

Oh, and thanks to Andy for the continuous text updates throughout the game. When the decision goes to the third umpire they don't show the replays on the screen in the ground. It was good to get Andy's 'un-biased' updates. It was also useful to find out how many overs we needed to play to get a result and what was going on with the Duckworth-Lewis method because there were all sorts of rumours going round in the tunnels of the SCG whilst we sheltered from the rain.

As the saying goes, "you're only as good as your last game". Well we’ve won our last four, including three over Australia. That makes us the best team in the World, ever!

"We are the Army, the Barmy, Barmy Army".