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Sunday, January 07, 2007
Oz V - Ashes to Ashes
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.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Oz IV - 2006 Done and Dusted
I spent New Year's Eve watching the fireworks in Sydney Harbour. It was amazing. I took a few photos and some film and they really don't do the displays justice. There were two displays, one at 9pm and one at midnight. The 9pm display used some graphics on the bridge (a question mark and a coat hanger) the fireworks were from the barges in the harbour and from Darling Harbour. It lasted about 10 minutes. The midnight display was even more spectacular. There were the fireworks on the barges, fireworks from the tops of the skyscrapers in the City centre, and the trademark fireworks on the bridge. It lasted about 15 minutes. They were hugely entertaining and were supported by cheers and applause from the crowd. I was sitting at McMahons point to the North-West of the bridge. I had a view of the bridge square on to my left, I could see the fireworks from the barge the other side of the bridge, the Opera House under the bridge, the skyscrapers infront of me, a fireworks barge infront, Darling Harbour beyond that, and fireworks further down to my right. I got there at midday and sat there for 12 hours. Luckily the weather held, there were predictions of thunderstorms beforehand. I ended up joining a picnic. The number of people in the area was amazing. By 8pm it was packed. Blues Point next to McMahons Point was crazy. When you tried to walk down there you were just moved in a river of people, mainly consisting of paraletic 15-19 year olds. The police closed of the area. Where I was sitting everyone stayed seated and I had plenty of space with a couple of Australians I had joined for the evening (I managed to join in on their New Year's Eve picnic). The patriotism of the young drunk Australians showed with them chanting 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie' towards the end of the fireworks. I don't think you would get that in the UK outside of sporting events.
I was on Bondi Beach for Christmas Day. It was a peculiar way to spend Christmas. I have never seen so many Santa hats in one place. In the evening I went to a friend of mine for a BBQ to complete the stereotyped Australian Christmas. During the week I sat in the sun watching the cricket on the big screens spread around the city and going to the beach. I fought it out in the sales to buy some shorts. Sydneysiders don't appear to take pre-Christmas shopping particularly seriously, whereas they attack the sales. Over the festive period news broadcasts have always referred to the Christmas road death toll. Whenever there was a road death anywhere in the country they reported it and then showed a scorecard of how many deaths there had been in each state. I think it got to about 25 in total. They also go into morbid detail, one report stating that the police couldn't identify the body because it had been so badly burnt. I am not sure why they concentrate on road deaths at this time of year more than any other. They didn't display statistics to compare these two weeks of the year with others. Apparently it is a Christmas tradition.
On New Year's Day I went to see the Barmy Army play the Fanatics (Australian cricket fans equivalent) in a charity match at the Coogee Oval. It was a great atmosphere. There were about 500 fans and 90 percent of those were English. The banter and chanting was very funny. They had a news reporter at the event and the fans kept putting him off. Unfortunately hopes of at least one English win this summer proved short lived. The Fanatics trounced the Barmy Army. I think this was partly to do with the Fanatics taking the cricket suspiciously seriously. Their players looked athletic, whereas the Barmy Army players looked like they were pregnant.
I managed to get into the second day of the Ashes test in Sydney today. It was superb. I went with a couple of guys from the Kiwi trip. We were sitting with the Barmy Army for the last hour and had a great time with the chanting. I have managed to get tickets for the third and fourth days.
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