Cricket News

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G'day Folks,

This is probably old news by now - but England suffered a heavy defeat in the first test match (by 250 runs).

Luckily, had to spend only two days fully exposed to the baking sun. The sun has shone fully for the five days of play. Official temperature is 32 deg C but out there on the pitch it's somewhat hotter, as there's little breeze.

Because of the Australian Cricket Family ticket fiasco, allocated tickets were all over the place. Englands manic fans: The Barmy Army were distributed all over the place. As a result, the atmosphere was much poorer than it would normally be.

Security was incredibly strict and way over the top. The Barmy Army's bugle player was kicked out of the ground by the police (musical instruments are banned). This nearly caused a strike by the barmies (a refusal to attend games). Luckily, common sense has prevailed and the bugler will be allowed to play at Adelaide.

Backpacks, "large" bags and even 15 guys with hollowed out melons on their heads were banned by the wowsers, a.k.a. the Queensland police. I myself had a shopping bag seized from me on the grounds that it was "sealable". What difference this makes I couldn't fathom. But to argue would mean refused entry.

Many Australians are really pissed off with their own countries ticketing policy, which was designed to preclude England fans from watching the matches. The result has been that many loyal fans cannot get tickets; all the England fans have managed to get tickets one way or another, It's a complete farce.

Such is the frenetic pace of the tour, there's been no time for sight seeing. Today is the last days play (27.11.6) and tomorrow it's straight off to Adelaide - courtesy of Richard Branson and Virgin Blue.

More from Adelaide...

Gaz out.

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