A Poms Ashes

What a disaster!  All I can say at the moment is thank the lord for guiness! {hic}

we’ll I’m sat here at work polishing me apple on my leg and I feel like i’m just about to bowl in this game its got so exciting.  A funny quote from Shane Warne below though which even ‘Bruce’ in the office thinks is over the top and that he’s lost it - thats saying a lot coming from an Aussie!

Shane Warne has been talking to Channel 9: “The boys know what to do. We’re quietly confident. There’s a good mood in the changing room. We gave them no runs, and their attitude this morning was just to survive. We all thought, if we can get two or three, we’ll put them under pressure. We just wanted to say, we’re still here.

“The run-out was key. It was a needless wicket, and then when we got Pietersen, every ball was a hand-grenade. I’m knackered, but lucky I’m a good athlete. It would have been nice to get a five-for, but I was really happy for Glenn McGrath, waited a long time to get that wicket, he’s a true champion.

“Now we need to be nice and aggressive. That wicket wasn’t part of the gameplan, but Ricky’s the best player in the world, this is his stage. Do I want a bat?! No way, I want a toasted sandwich and some cake!” And indeed he’s immediately spotted on the balcony troughing on some pizza - well deserved, nevertheless.

I’m sat here in the office watching as England are 120/9 in their second innings.  I’ve been getting stick since mid-morning thanks to this classic England collapse.  Ah well i’m taking it on the chin and the Aussies still have to get the runs in limited overs to win.  Its not looking good but its going to be exciting.

Here’s something fun to cheer up all England fans:

Well yesterday had some fun with Hoggy taking a few wickets but today’s play has indicated that this game will be heading a for a draw.  The Aussie wickets appear to be great batching pitches and even ‘Bruce’ and friends have got of bored with the slow run procession and little in the way of wickets.

I have had some great banter at work today though and with England’s great performance over the weekend I started to stir things up early on by saying we’d bowl them all out today.  Well we have achieved that but it appears a little bit too late for a victory now.

The big talking point today has been my new purchase at the weekend at the local market - a “Bloody Pommie” mug.  I’ll hopefully get a piccy of it up here soon.

Anyway some good comments on the baggygreen site today are included below:

The Aussies are jogging around the outfield, England have been throwing catches to each other but are now going into a huddle on the edge of the square … and Cricket Australia are busy confiscating the latest wave of subversive material - The Barmy Army’s official magazine! You wonder if the board could possible make a bigger cock-up of their own public relations if they tried! And the reason the magazine has been seized? Cos it’s not a sanctioned publication … send us your thoughts.

Reaction comes fast and furious, and mostly from our Australian readers … and it’s not good for Cricket Australia. “Trumpets and magazines should be the least of the ACB’s worries,” emails Dave. “When did they become the fun police.” Pual adds: “I think Cricket Australia need to take a close look at who is advising them on their Public Relations.” Michael McInerney writes: “Let the Barmy Army have their newsletter . Do they [CA] want to insist on boring everyone to death with the usual official magazine rubbish.” JP adds: “Such a prominent part of the Australian culture, is represented by a decidedly un-Australian organisation.”

Boonie wakes up and tells everyone to “Stop whinging”

“Stop dribbling on about the trumpeter,” trumpets Rod Hutchison. “Do you really think those snotty aristocrats at Lord’s would allow an Aussie to come in and bugle Waltzing Matilda all day?? I think not somehow….stick to the scones and tea, build a bridge and get over it!”

What a day for England! We have totally dominated today’s play to get to 551-6 and declare at the end of day 2.  A record breaking partnership from Pieterson and Collingwood has put England in a great position and to top the day off we got an Australian wicket before the end of the play.

My day involved going down the local surf club which is great as it has several different screens all with with different sporting events.  In between having my lunch I kept checking out the play on one of two screens that were showing the action.  It was really strange as all the Australian guys watching the game were so quiet!  They were muttering between themselves and looked very down beat which is very strange for Aussies watching watching their national team.  I stood watching the game drinking a Tooheys New with a huge grin on my face!  This is the life – drinking Aussie beer, scorching hot, gorgeous sea views and England HAMMERING Australia!

The England players at the end of day looked as though they were buzzing.  Flintoff and the guys looked like kids who were going to win a school tournament – they couldn’t stop grinning.  Let’s hope they take this positive feeling into tommorows play and get an early wicket or two to start to get them under pressure.  The Adelaide wicket is going to be hard to dismiss a team in one day but let’s see how they get on.

Well the test started today and I was late into work so ‘Bruce’ and friends didn’t have much of a chance to start winding me up.  England won the toss, which was excellent and decided to bat so went off full of hope of a good start.  “Its not a race it’s a marathon” and so England began a slow innings of starting to build up a total that Australia could chase.  Within a few hours I was beginning to think “here we go again” as England had lost two wickets for less than fifty runs.  Bruce was out of the office so I went out for lunch and tried to forget the potential disaster that was looming.  This arvo however England started to slowly build up the total and with the final partnership of Collingwood and Pierterson have built up a great recovery total of 266-3.  If England can build up a better total tomorrow, put Australia in to bat and get an early wicket or two then I really fancy our chances.  There have been signs today that Lee and Warne for the Aussies have got wound-up by the English batsmen which is excellent!

The office this arvo was great.  Bruce and the guys went all quiet as I kept reading out the scores.  I heard moaning about how slowly England scored and that paint dries quicker but what the hell - we got some runs and they are worried! 

Let’s hope the weekend turns out to be a good one for England.

Well it is the eve of the second test in Adelaide and I am so looking forward to it!  I know England got a hiding in the first test but I love the eve of the tests and all the talk before a game starts.  A piece of news I found this evening however has made the red mist descend:

Adelaide is banning the Barmy Amy Bugler/trumpeter Bill Cooper from playing his trumpet in the Adelaide tests and this is down to Cricket Australia.  We have all heard of how he had his instrument (no joke folks J) confiscated in the Brisbane test and how he was ejected from the ground.  Since that first day in Brisbane there has been a lot public debate about this and it seemed that common sense had started to prevail and that he would be allowed to play an instrument in future tests – well no.  Cricket Australia have intervened.

Cricket Australia public affairs manager Peter Young has stopped Bill playing because they currently have a ban in place for trumpets and air horns.  I quote the Cricket Australia clown as follows:

“Unfortunately the rules cannot be bent for a small group, as much as we understand and appreciate what they are trying to achieve”.

Speaking to ‘Bruce’ at work today he had told me of the past when people used to just blow horns and that this irritated people.  He has also told me of how at a lot grounds they have sections for drinking and family areas as well.  So here comes my point:

Why when Bill Cooper does more than just blast a noise out of his trumpet (he is trained to play the trumpet) can he be in the same bracket as someone who just blows a noise out of a cheap plastic toy or an air horn?

Why did they say a few days ago that they would re-evaluate the treatment of Bill and his trumpet playing?

Why can’t they allow Bill and the Barmy Army to play and sing their stuff in a trumpet allowed/Adult only/Away Fans zone?

Why did Cricket Australia agree after the first test, after all that happened in Brisbane, to allow a song to be played in the stadium that went as follows:

“In the hostels, the backpack hostels, the pommies whinge tonight.
A whinge away, A whinge away, A whinge away, A whinge away.”

Now I kind of find it funny in a certain way but to ban a trumpet player and allow this is joke.

Could this ban behind the fact they don’t want this ‘small group’ of England fans to support their team and maybe out-sing the Australian fans? 

Could this u-turn in now banning Bill (after initially saying he would be allowed to play after Brisbane) be to do with keeping England fans here as high spending tourists?

Now wouldn’t it be a surprise if they dropped the ban in the last few tests if England (just in case) didn’t have a chance of winning the Ashes tournament? – Wouldn’t that be a nice public affairs solution to the growing row?

I have a message to you Cricket Australia and Peter Young – cricket is for the fans in the ground foremost and then the public.  Not you and your suits at Cricket Australia who have so far made this Ashes the most unenjoyable spectacle going.  You have already made a terrible start to this tournament with the ticket sales and the Brisbane test and now you continue in the same manner…Cricket Australia – you bloody fools!

This is rather worrying but i’m hoping he is just practising.  In any event I hope England do go with a couple of spinners in the Adelaide test.

Well the inevitable collapse on the last day for the final 5 wickets was no surprise.  I couldn’t see any possible chance of England batting out the remaining day and the only possible saving grace would have been rain to arrive but Queensland at the moment is baking in lovely blue skies and the storms generally only appear in late afternoon anyway if at all.

So 1-0 to the Aussies and no-one can deny that they dominated the first Test at the Gabba.  Personally I and many other England would be disappointed by how bad England has been and the fact that they were outplayed everywhere on the pitch.

The other major disappointment was the policing at the Gabba and strict no fun policy.  Even the Aussies are disgraced by the events at the Gabba and when local Aussie fans get thrown out for chanting “Aussie Aussie Aussie” then there is something seriously wrong with Cricket Australia or Brisbane cricket officials or the local police.  There have already be announcements from Sydney and Adelaide that they will allow more ‘fun’ to take place and not be so strict, so fingers crossed for that in the future tests.

I didn’t get that much stick on Monday at work for two reasons:

1) Bruce and friends were in a meeting for most of the day
2) We had all kind of accepted that they were going to win after about the first day.

I’m still getting the odd jibe but as I keep mentioning – “You won the first test last time and what happened then?”  Let’s hope Flintoff sorts the troops out and get Harmison out and Monty in.  Bring on the PUNJABI SPIN KING… COME ON MONTY PANESAR!!