Saturday 14th February 2015.
We had a bit of a lie in and started the day by exchanging Valentine cards. My phone had rung about 2.30am – I saw it was Jonno at the garage and guessed it would be about Chris’ car, so I ignored it and went straight back to sleep. We have a nice chill morning before the cricket this afternoon – the only downside is that the weather isn’t great – it is grey and cloudy and showery at the moment, but the forecast is for it to dry up.
Breakfast in the lounge was very good – the usual lounge fare with very attentive staff who tidied and replenished very well. The section of fruit and yoghurts was especially good and we were able to get a good base ready for the day ahead. By the time we got back to the room, the clouds had started to disperse and there was some blue sky in evidence.
We had arranged to meet Nick Jones, an ex-colleague for both of us – he has just retired and is enjoying an extended stay in Oz – he left home in October last year and has been here ever since, apart from a stop over in Thailand. The arrangement was to meet at a big pub called Young and Jackson at the junction of Flinders St and Swanson St opposite the exit to Flinders Station – Nick is currently staying with his cousin in the Melbourne suburbs and is travelling in by train. We walked out of the hotel to find several streets near the hotel, including Exhibition Street closed off to traffic for some sort of Greek Festival – there were lots of food stalls being set up and fairground rides -clear;y a big day in the Melbourne Greek community’s year.
As we got to the pub at about 12.15pm, Nick had yet to arrive but the pub was heaving, so we decided to wait a bit – the first game of the world cup has started with New Zealand playing Sri Lanka and it was being shown on the huge screens in the pub. When Nick arrived he was dressed in his jeans and carrying a brolly – apparently the weather in the ’burbs had been worse then hours – we had a beer in a slightly quieter part of the pub and caught up on his adventures- two and a half pints of run of the mill Carlton Lager was $24. Nick told us that he is heading home next week earlier than planned, even though he has had a fantastic time, he has grown a little weary of solo travel.
After having the drink, and a good catch up we decided to head to the ground – gates open at 1pm for a 2.30pm start. By the time we left the pub about 1.15pm the sun was shining and it was getting very warm. Nick is meeting his cousin and is in a different part of the ground – we had a wander round the ground looking for a bar without success, paused for photos and then said goodbye as he went off to meet his cousin.
Our tickets said gate 4 and we had a bit of a queue to get in but nothing major – there are still tickets on sale, but mainly for general admission standing tickets. We made our way inside our tickets are on the lower level among the England fans – a decision I was unsure of from the start. The good thing is that the seats were in the shade to start because by the time play commenced there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was red hot. At the start it wasn’t too bad, the people around us were fine and there were a group of the ‘Barmy Army’ stood at the back of our section – chanting a bit, but nothing to trouble anyone.
Australia batted first and started reasonably slowly – Aaron Finch and David Warner opened. Unfortunately Chris Woakes dropped Finch when he was on nought – a fairly easy chance that was shown over and over on the big screen subsequently – The Aussies reach 57-0 and then Stuart Broad bowled Warner and the next ball got Shane Watson to edge to Jos Buttler so was on a hat trick – Steve Smith survived but didn’t last too long when Woakes bowled him for 5 and they were 70-3 and we were fairly happy.
Our mood went down from there – Finch started to take the bowling apart in a huge stand with George Bailey and was eventually out for 135. Glenn Maxwell ( 66 off 40 balls) and Brad Haddin (31 off 24) added to the misery and even though Steven Finn took a very unlikely hat trick with the last three balls of the innings 342 was always going to take some getting. Add to this the ‘Barmy Army’ were getting louder and more repetitive as well as being racist, obnoxious and embarrassing as their alcohol intake increased. We did have some food though – I had a meat feast pizza and Sue had a burger and we shared chips – at $25.50 it wasn’t too extortionate and both were fairly tasty.
The England innings was a steady parade of wickets albeit with some fantastic Aussie bowling, catching and fielding. When Woakes was out, we were 94-6 and top scorer at that stage was Ian Bell with 36. By this time the obnoxious louts behind us had swelled in number, lost all interest in the cricket and were just behaving like total idiots to the bemusement of the police who were watching closely and occasionally picking off one or more of them who crossed some vague line – some of their number were old enough to know better and I think will be somewhat embarrassed when the inevitable videos appeared on YouTube.
Our interest was firmly focused on the cricket – Titch Taylor put a bit of a stand together with Jos Buttler then Chris Woakes – unfortunately Stuart broad was out first ball, but with Jimmy Anderson he managed to get to 98 not out – he was then given LBW but reviewed it – they also ran for a quick leg bye and Jimmy Anderson was run out – the LBW was overturned but the run out was upheld – even though it was a dead ball after the finger went up for LBW.
A sad end to a sad game James Taylor stuck on 98no and England beaten by 111 runs and the idiots in the ‘Barmy Army’ giving everyone an awful impression of what England sports fans are like. Having said that, we had a great time – it was a brilliant experience to be in a crowd of over 84,000 watching high quality cricket and, though it pains me to admit it – the Aussies were simply better than us. In sport that can happen. We joined the throng heading back towards the city and the hotel. We called for a beer at an offie, then went up to the lounge for a bit of fruit and a soft drink. We also had a couple of the Valentine chocs that were still out.
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