England were finally put out of their misery. I really enjoyed being there but on the 3rd Day when Warne was knocking England around the park you started to feel like it was again going away from England. Then when the top-order fell apart you knew it was all over. There was some hope on the morning of the 4th Day that Pieterson might be able to put some runs on. When he got out with the 2nd ball of the day the atmosphere among England fans dropped. Luckily this didn't last long and the Barmy Army got singing again. It was good to be there to see McGrath, Warne and Langer retire. It worked perfectly for their retirement, with McGrath getting the last wicket, Warne taking the game out of England's reach, and Langer hitting the winning runs with Hayden.
The Barmy Army have received a bad press (see the article on the BBC website). In all of the speeches after the match the England and Australian players referenced the Barmy Army and thanked them for their support. The England went over to the Barmy Army and Flintoff bowed down infront of them. The Barmy Army applauded the Australian team when they came round on their victory lap and applauded all of the players retiring. In the Barmy Army magazine it says that their purpose is not to abuse opposition players and to support England through thick and thin. Hoggard has says he really appreciates the support, and whenever Monty was fielding infront of the Army he was encouraging them to chant. I think alot of the chants are very funny, with tongue firmly in cheek. One about Warne is to the tune of "My old man's a dustman" with the line "and when he lost his hair he also lost his wife". There is a chant where the people on the right stand up and say "we are the right, over here", the middle stand up and say "we are the middle, over here", the left stand up and say "we are the left, over here" then everyone stand ups and says "you are the convicts, over there". The video of the guy with the flag is the signature Barmy Army chant. The guy who leads it is called Jimmy (because he looks like Jimmy Saville). People chant "Jimmy, Jimmy give us a song" and when he does decide to lead the song everyone chants "He's only got one song". The chant of "Barmy Army" lasts until England get a wicket and then it becomes "Barmy Wicket". On the last two days a favourite song was "Living on a prayer" and "Let's all have a DISCO". On the last day they went through every England player fielding getting them to wave. They then went got the policeman to wave, the umpires and Langer, the only person who didn't wave was Hayden. Hayden did wave to the Army when he came round in the victory lap. In the Barmy Army magazine it says that they have more fun at the cricket than anyone else even when England lose. I would agree and enjoyed sitting with them. At times the support from the England fans did seem to add to what was happening on the field. On the third day Lee was bowling to Collingwood. In the follow through Lee made to throw the ball at Collingwood which drew a big reaction from the crowd. When Lee went back to bowl the next ball the England fans all started making noise, he waited, he then bowled and Collingwood hit it for four and the same for the next ball. Lee was then withdrawn from the attack. Admittedly Collingwood didn't survive much longer, but it was a nice moment. Also on the 3rd Day Symonds made a massive appeal for lbw against Pieterson, after that the Barmy Army yelled "Howzat" for all of Symonds deliveries.
The Barmy Army have received a bad press (see the article on the BBC website). In all of the speeches after the match the England and Australian players referenced the Barmy Army and thanked them for their support. The England went over to the Barmy Army and Flintoff bowed down infront of them. The Barmy Army applauded the Australian team when they came round on their victory lap and applauded all of the players retiring. In the Barmy Army magazine it says that their purpose is not to abuse opposition players and to support England through thick and thin. Hoggard has says he really appreciates the support, and whenever Monty was fielding infront of the Army he was encouraging them to chant. I think alot of the chants are very funny, with tongue firmly in cheek. One about Warne is to the tune of "My old man's a dustman" with the line "and when he lost his hair he also lost his wife". There is a chant where the people on the right stand up and say "we are the right, over here", the middle stand up and say "we are the middle, over here", the left stand up and say "we are the left, over here" then everyone stand ups and says "you are the convicts, over there". The video of the guy with the flag is the signature Barmy Army chant. The guy who leads it is called Jimmy (because he looks like Jimmy Saville). People chant "Jimmy, Jimmy give us a song" and when he does decide to lead the song everyone chants "He's only got one song". The chant of "Barmy Army" lasts until England get a wicket and then it becomes "Barmy Wicket". On the last two days a favourite song was "Living on a prayer" and "Let's all have a DISCO". On the last day they went through every England player fielding getting them to wave. They then went got the policeman to wave, the umpires and Langer, the only person who didn't wave was Hayden. Hayden did wave to the Army when he came round in the victory lap. In the Barmy Army magazine it says that they have more fun at the cricket than anyone else even when England lose. I would agree and enjoyed sitting with them. At times the support from the England fans did seem to add to what was happening on the field. On the third day Lee was bowling to Collingwood. In the follow through Lee made to throw the ball at Collingwood which drew a big reaction from the crowd. When Lee went back to bowl the next ball the England fans all started making noise, he waited, he then bowled and Collingwood hit it for four and the same for the next ball. Lee was then withdrawn from the attack. Admittedly Collingwood didn't survive much longer, but it was a nice moment. Also on the 3rd Day Symonds made a massive appeal for lbw against Pieterson, after that the Barmy Army yelled "Howzat" for all of Symonds deliveries.
I went to the Star City Casino after the 4th Day. When I was walking in I bumped into Steve Harmison walking out of the apartments entrance. I looked at him, thought he looks sun burnt, then realised who it was, he looked at me realised that I knew who he was and avoided my eye contact. I grinned inanely at him and carried on walking. I was tempted to say something to him but couldn't think of anything that would be worth saying after being thrashed 5-0 and various commentators criticising your contribution.
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