Adelaide

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Bit belated this entry. We got to Adelaide late, after flight problems - being delayed out of Cape Town - meant we missed our Dubai connection into Sydney. We arrived at the picturesque Adelaide Oval a day late and just as the first over commenced, by which time it was already clear that the Aussie pace attack was proving challenging.

In Sydney, it was being reported that the Kiwi coach and management thought that speedster S Tait was a "chucker", deriving additional pass and bounce by use of a bent arm at the point of delivery. I tried to capture the offending action, but was unable. It all looked legit to me.

Still, B McCullum eventually got going and hit a good 90-something, with some excellent off driving. No probs in chasing for the Aussies tho - Gillespie was slogging it all over the shop, which the local crowd was pretty pleased with. Some rain came along late in the day, but the result wasn't in doubt after the 15th over of the Aussie chase.

Apparently some former NZ cricket scribe was asked why he threw it all in. He said it was the consistent failure of the NZ openers which ended up grinding him down.

How Sonny Shaw (click here for his 2007/8 itinerary) copes, I shall never know. Apparently he attends his 100th NZ test match in March.

After the caning finished we had the next day in the recovery position - Adelaide is a very relaxing place, and we also got to see Sonya B.

The next day we caught up with Anne H's parents who very kindly showed us around Barossa and generously allowed us to stay on their lovely farm.

Helen got a cool photo of some sheep lined up for their evening munch.

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