Cricket

Trip Start Sep 01, 2005

Trip End May 11, 2006

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Flag of Australia Melbourne, Australia
Friday, February 3, 2006

Al and I arrived at the Telstra Dome, just down the road from our hostel, arround 45 minutes after the start of the match. We payed higher than average prices for our seat so they were quite good, just 4 rows from the front. First things first, get the beer in. Australia were batting first with Gilchrist and Katich out on the pitch. Gilchrist was bowled out by Hall after 33 runs and Katich followed was shortly with a catch by Pollock. This made way for a 74-run partnership between Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn, Ponting scoring a half century. While Symonds and Hussey were batting in the last 10 overs a ball was hit for 6 and was caught by a bloke in the crowd just metres from where we were sitting.

Australia finished on 281 for 7. As South Africa reached 13 for 2 in the eight over it was clear that they were going to struggle to match let alone beat this. I don't confess to know a whole ton about the game and I wont bother going through the whole match here

01-View from our seats

. Suffice to say South Africa lost, finishing Al and I arrived at the Telstra Dome, just down the road from our hostel, around 45 minutes after the start of the match. We payed higher than average prices for our seat so they were quite good, just 4 rows from the front. First things first, get the beers in. Australia were batting first with Gilchrist and Katich out on the pitch. Gilchrist was bowled out by Hall after 33 runs and Katich followed shortly with a catch by Pollock. This made way for a 74-run partnership between Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn, Ponting scoring a half century. While Symonds and Hussey were batting in the last 10 overs a ball was hit for 6 and was caught by a bloke in the crowd just metres from where we were sitting.

Australia finished on 281 for 7. As South Africa reached 13 for 2 in the eight over it was clear that they were going to struggle to match let alone beat Australia. I don't confess to know a whole ton about the game and I wont bother going through the whole match here. Suffice to say South Africa lost, finishing on 201 for 9.

Someone once said that cricket is a gentleman's game. The person in question was obviously not amongst an Australian crowd at the time. I struggled to see a man with aposable thumbs let alone a Gentleman

02-Australia batting

. People were constantly being evicted from the ground throughout the game. Fights broke out regularly and sometimes a whole section of stadium would clamber over the seats to watch or join in before security and police arrived to break the whole thing up. However dumb, the crowd were about as entertaining to watch as the match, the somewhat draconian measures the police went to to control them making it even more so.

Many people in the crowd brought beach balls along that they would discreetly blow up and then punt into the crowd, these would make their way around the stadium until being either hit onto the pitch or caught by the police who would then pop them. The last person to touch the ball before such an ending would be met with chants of "You are wanker. You are a wanker" by the surrounding crowd who would stand up and point.

On my last day here in Melbourne I paid, I thought, an expensive $13 dollars to take the lift up to the 50 something floor of the Realto tower for panoramic views of Melbourne and Port Phillip bay, which I didn't realise was so close. I also visited Melbourne Central which is a train centre and shopping centre with a difference. The shopping centre has been built around an old building, the centre piece being the huge atrium that covers the red brick tower of the old factory building

03-Beach ball

. I got a really nice black and white photo of the tower.
on 201 for 9.

Someone once said that cricket is a gentlemen's game. The person in question was obviously not amongst an Australian crowd at the time. I struggled to see a man with oposable thumbs let alone a Gentleman. Being were constanly being evicted from the ground throughout the game. Fights broke out regularly and sometime a whole section of stadium would clamber over the seats to watch or join in before security and police arrived to break the whole thing up. However dumb, the crowd were about as entertaining to watch as the match, the somewhat draconian measures the police went to to control them making it even more so.

Many people in the crowd brought beach balls along that they would discreetly blow up and then punt into the crowd, these would make their way arround the stadium until being either hit onto the pitch or caught by the police who would then pop them. The last person to touch the ball before such an ending would be met with chants of "You are wanker. You are a wanker"

On my last day here in Melbourne I paid, I thought, an expensive $13 dollars to take the lift up to the 50 something floor of the Realto tower for panaramic views of Melbourne and Port Phillip bay, which I didn't realise was so close. I also visited Melbourne Central which is a train centre and shopping centre with a difference. The shopping centre has been built arround an old building, the centre piece being the huge atrium that covers the red brick tower of the old factory building. It's the future man. I got a really nice black and white photo with the shadows from the atrium crossing the tower.