Friday 27th February 2015 -AB De Villiers lights up the MCG.

Friday 27th February 2015.

We woke to a strange noise just before 8am – it turned out to be rain – not just a bit of a shower but a torrential downpour. We looked down at the traffic below and the cars were ploughing through water on the road! Not what you want on a cricket day.

After a nice FaceTime chat with Christopher, we got ourselves sorted. I went and got a coffee for Sue then went back to the lounge to type diary while she washed her hair. I had some fruit and coffee for breakfast and got caught up. By the time I had finished eating, the rain had stopped and there was blue sky in evidence, so we will see what happens. The breakfast buffet here is as good as I remember it – certainly enough to set us up for the day.

Later: The trend to blue sky and sunshine continued, and by about 11am, apart from a few puddles, it was hard to tell it had been raining. Once we were all sorted and ready, we walked to Circular Quay for advice about transport, as this is included in the price of tickets. This is a good deal as the tickets were only about a tenner. We were told that there were a series of shuttle buses from Circular Quay and Central out to the ground. Before we caught the bus we went to a nearby Woolworth’s and got sandwiches and fruit etc. for later.

The bus service was excellent – it was 1pm when we got to the bus stop and there was a bus in – we got on and it set of almost immediately for a formula one type drive through the fairly busy streets. We were dropped at the ground and had a wander outside – there was a steel drum band playing on top of a bus to greet fans in the fan zone – lots of South Africa and West Indies fans mixing and enjoying the now bright sunshine.

This is our second visit to this complex – on our first visit to Australia in 2010 we came to see George Michael at the adjacent rugby stadium. Inside the ground there is a very nice, and very reasonably priced modern food court, and – of course – lots of bars. The players were still on the pitch practicing, so we went down to the edge to take photos. There aren’t too many of the South Africans we recognised apart from AB De Villiers, Dale Steyn and of course Hashim Amla, who played for Notts in 2010. Over on the West Indian side of the pitch, again there were a lot of new players but most eyes were on Chris Gayle who had hit 215 in his last match. The West Indies seems far more laid back, which isn’t a surprise. Their main focus was when they started a quite intense and physical game of five a side football.

Our seats were really good in a fairly sparsely populated part of the ground, close to the pitch and next to the alcohol free zone. The ground isn’t anywhere near full, but the lower tier and the members area have a fair few in. South Africa won the toss and chose to bat. They made a steady but unspectacular start, with Amla pushing and prodding but not going mad. After 20 overs they were 87-1. By the time AB De Villiers came to the crease in the 30th over they were 146-3. Alma had made 65 and du Plessis 62.

That was when the fireworks started! De Villiers was majestic – he hit 162 not out from 66 balls as he and Rilee Rossouw took the West Indies attack apart. They scored 222 in the last 15 overs – De Villiers was smacking it to all parts of the ground and the crowd were going wild – it was fantastic to watch. They broke all sorts of records – AB hit the fastest ever ODI 150 – 64 balls. beating Shane Watson’s previous record by 19 balls. He also hit the fastest 50 (16 balls). The South Africans finished on 408-5 – the highest total ever hit in an ODI in Oz. It was the second highest total ever in the World Cup only India’s 413-7 against Bermuda was higher. The West Indian Captain Jason Holder finished on 1-104 off ten with his last two overs going for 64!

The West Indies innings after this was always going to be a challenge and when Chris Gayle was out for three, we all knew it was going to fade away. At 63-7 it was all over bar the shouting, but a bit of resistance from Jason Holder (56) got them to a semi respectable score of 151 all out, but the winning margin of 257 runs also equalled a World Cup record. The South African spinner Imran Tahir took 5-45 and he was great entertainment value, as every time he took a wicket he ran off waving his arms like he had just won the World Cup.

All in all, great entertainment for the 23,000 plus crowd. The crowd has swelled considerably during the late afternoon and evening, presumably as locals had come in after work. The final impressive act was the bussing away from the stadium. We went outside and there were two orderly queues at the bus stops – one for Central and a much shorter one for Circular Quay. There were also a great long line of busses waiting to get people away – very, very well organised.

In no time at all was were back at Circular Quay and decided to go into The Ship for a beer on a busy Friday night – it was very nice and really welcome – we also had a supper of chicken and feta pizza, as we had only eaten our picnic at the ground.

Back to the hotel about 10.30pm to settle down after another very enjoyable and memorable day.