Barmy is right...
Dec. 26th, 2006 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smofbabeTurns out the weather yesterday was even worse then I thought: it was the coldest Xmas Day in Melbourne since they started keeping records (1935)! We planned to go to the Boxing Day cricket Test match as we've done for the past several years that I've been visiting Melbourne around Xmas time. However, the rain persisted in the morning so we didn't leave until after the lunch break. We must have been a good luck charm because although it drizzled on our walk from the train station to the stadium, it cleared right away. It was cloudy and windy most of the rest of the afternoon, but it never rained again.
We arrived in good time to see superstar bowler Shane Warne get his record-setting 700th wicket (and his 701st, 702nd, 703rd, and 704th!) England continued on its shaky way, going out for just 159 in less than 75 overs. (For you Americans, sometimes a single batsman can get 159!) And it might have been worse as there were a couple of missed catches along the way. England did get two quick wickets before the day was over but Australia currently stands at 2/48 without exactly a big target to chase.
Our seats turned out to be close to the field but in the next section to a large part of the "Barmy Army," the pack in which many English cricket fans travel. Over 2000 of them came over for the Ashes series. The army has its own merchandise, full-time office staff, and songs. Although they were mostly unintelligible, less than half the songs and chants sounded like they were about England (or against Australia). Most of them sounded like they were about the army itself. At the end of a really humiliating day, they even cheered for a while under the stands. That's when I discovered another difference between Australian and American sports fans: all day long, including the walk under the stands at the end, the British fans were chanting and cheering and the Aussie fans were mostly silent. I don't believe I've ever been in an American stadium for a sport of any kind where the local fans would have let the opposing fans cheer louder and longer without a challenge. (Stephen claims the Aussies are complacent in their superiority :-> )
We arrived in good time to see superstar bowler Shane Warne get his record-setting 700th wicket (and his 701st, 702nd, 703rd, and 704th!) England continued on its shaky way, going out for just 159 in less than 75 overs. (For you Americans, sometimes a single batsman can get 159!) And it might have been worse as there were a couple of missed catches along the way. England did get two quick wickets before the day was over but Australia currently stands at 2/48 without exactly a big target to chase.
Our seats turned out to be close to the field but in the next section to a large part of the "Barmy Army," the pack in which many English cricket fans travel. Over 2000 of them came over for the Ashes series. The army has its own merchandise, full-time office staff, and songs. Although they were mostly unintelligible, less than half the songs and chants sounded like they were about England (or against Australia). Most of them sounded like they were about the army itself. At the end of a really humiliating day, they even cheered for a while under the stands. That's when I discovered another difference between Australian and American sports fans: all day long, including the walk under the stands at the end, the British fans were chanting and cheering and the Aussie fans were mostly silent. I don't believe I've ever been in an American stadium for a sport of any kind where the local fans would have let the opposing fans cheer louder and longer without a challenge. (Stephen claims the Aussies are complacent in their superiority :-> )
