Beach Cricket Coolangatta

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Went to the beach cricket this weekend at Coolangatta on the Gold Coast. That's right on the border between Queensland and New South Wales, about an hours train ride from Brisbane. Some of the best Ex England, Australia & New Zealand Players took part. The captains were Alan Border, Graham Gooch & Martin Crowe. Was a fantastic feeling to see some of my childhood heroes playing in such close proximity? I got to the coast early Saturday morning to find a massive queue all the way down the esplanade. Surprisingly once it started to move I was in the ground pretty quickly and moved towards the beer tent.
The first game was Australia vs. England which both needed to win to qualify for Sundays final.
I decided to make myself comfortable for an afternoon of cricket in the sun with a few cold ones. I must have looked like a walking advert for XXXX. I had done the Brewery tour a week or so before so I had all the gear. I had my XXXX Queensland bulls singlet on, XXXX Thongs, XXXX beech cricket Hat and a XXXX gold Stubby holder.
The first game was won by England in a close game meaning we were in Sundays final and the Aussie's were out. The second game was against the Kiwi's effectively a trial run for the final. Unfortunately England lost, not looking good for the final.
It was a pretty hot day and I definitely didn't put enough sunscreen on over the course of the day. Shoulders were red raw by the afternoon.
Managed to find a hostel around the corner from the beach, so I checked in for the night.
Got washed and changed and went for a meal on the front at a place called 'Mikes Steak House.' Apparently it’s a chain from South Africa. The food was spot on and the portions were massive. I reckon the South Africans must have similar appetites to the Americans. Got up early Sunday morning and went for a swim at the beach before going to the beach cricket again. Once again it was blazing hot. Decided to wear my England cricket shirt which revved a few people up. Does seem to be a good way to get chatting to people though. First game of the day was XXXX Legends against the Aussie's. The team was a mix of Pom & Kiwi players captained by Graham Gooch. The rest of the team was Graeme Hick, Robin Smith, Angus Fraser, Chris Cairns, Martin Crowe and Adam Hollioak.
The legends put on a total of about 100 so it was the Aussies turn to bat. They didn't have a great start but were still in the hunt. The final pairing was Dean Jones & Mark Waugh. They won the game with the last ball of the innings. The Final was played in the afternoon, New Zealand batted first and made over 100 in there 8 overs. This was a tough ask but England had been going well so I thought we'd have a good chance. The Kiwis bowled really well and it was very tight in the final over. Graeme Hick got bowled trying to smash it out of the ground leaving to many runs needed from the remaining deliveries giving the win to the Kiwi's. Managed to have a chat with a few of the players and even got a few autographs after the game. Had a fantastic weekend, really hope I get chance to see it again sometime. See what you think of the pictures.

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