Boxing Day - 26th Dec. - The cricket 🏏

Today was really all about the cricket.

I'm not sure what it is that has drawn me to want to see England play Australia at the Boxing Day test match in the Ashes... I've seen less than a handful of cricket games ever, but it's been on my list of things to do for quite some time! Maybe it has been listening to Test Match Special over the years, particularly during the winter when England are playing abroad and TMS (test match special) is on overnight. Catching TMS first thing in the morning when England are playing in some far away place on their winter tour, at the end of the day due to the time difference. The Boxing Day test match though stood out as one that I have wanted to see.

Either way, I never really thought it was something that I would get a chance to see because of how flipping far away Australia is and because of the time of year. Anyway, here we are and I find us looking forward to spending the day at the iconic MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground). The day did not disappoint!

We started the day early getting the tram in from our base in St Kilda to Melbourne. From here we walked along towards the Laneways and found a spot outdoors at a cafe for breakfast. Suitably sated, we started the 20 minute walk with throngs of other supporters to the MCG. There was cloud overhead and as we approached the stadium I overheard someone say that England had won the toss and decided to bowl!

We were directed to the correct entrance according to our ticket but this and the next two were very busy with queues and it was suggested to continue to the next exit which we did and pretty much walked straight in.

We quickly found our seats in the Shane Warne stand and waited for the cricket to start. The MCG is huge, bigger than any stadium in the UK (for any sport) and had a capacity of over three times that of Lords. The tickets that is managed to buy could probably not have been much better. There were plenty of England supporters in our block and we were right next to the three blocks of the Barmy Army!

After a speech by Aunty Joy, a respected indigenous people leader there were the anthems before the cricket started. England bowled well and ended the morning session in a good position. After lunch, where lots of kids were able to play on the outfield, England continued and managed to bowl Australia out for just 152, a seemingly great result. However, I was conscious of the often quoted statement on TMS, that you don't really know what a pitch is like until both teams have batted... How true a statement would that be today!

Somewhere after lunch the sun came out and we spent the afternoon baking in the sun and staying hydrated with drinks! The atmosphere throughout the day was brilliant with the Barmy Army in fine voice. However, it was after tea, with Australia batting, that it felt like someone had switched it up with the Barmy Army singing and Aussie fans shouting in equal measure and increasingly 'at' each other (mostly) in good humour. Maybe it was the sun, maybe it was the beer or (probably) a bit/lot of both, but the atmosphere definitely turned up at least a few notches!

England's innings was typically English with them 3 wickets down with just 8 runs posted. Eventually, the team made it to 110 before being bowled out with just 11 minutes of play left. This meant that play resumed at 5:59 pm with Australia having to survive just one over. It was an exciting over with every ball having something happening but, sadly for England, without a wicket! The day ended with 20 wickets having fallen (the most in the first day of an Ashes test match since 1909!) The attendance at the 'G' was 94,199, the largest number of people ever for a cricket test match there!

We left the stadium with the crowds having watched an epic day, albeit one which left England needing to knuckle down on day two!

We walked back in to Melbourne and found a couple of bars for drinks before heading to the place that we'd booked for a meal, an Asian fusion restaurant called Supernormal. We had a number of delicious dishes that we shared, including a couple of different types of dumplings.

By now it was after 9pm and we were tired after a day baking in the sun so we caught a tram back to our base and had a night cap before bed!.Leggi altro