One up....

Big Harvey reports from the second test down under... Emotions run high for two reasons... Read on to find out!!  

Following the Brisbane Test it was straight back to my digs for a quick shower, a train to the airport, and the slightly delayed Virgin Blue flight down to Sydney. Known as "The Curfew Chaser," if this flight is more than about 30 minutes late, it falls foul of Sydney Airport's strict 2300 curfew, and you either have to wait until the morning or even sometimes get diverted to Canberra! Thankfully the weather gods allowed it to get in just in time, and a mad dash for the train saw me get on the station platform with about 8 minutes to spare before the final train to connect with the last Manly ferry of the night from Circular Quay. Had I taken checked-in luggage, I would never have made it, and would probably have ended up having to take a long and tedious night bus journey to Manly. Luckily I had only hand luggage and my friend was waiting at Manly Ferry Terminal as arranged.

The following day saw us fishing on Sydney Harbour. As usual at this time of year the fishing wasn't fantastic, I got seasick, which was also true to form, but I did catch a few under-sized snapper, hooked and lost an Australian salmon right at the boat, and best of all landed my first ever bonito.

The next day saw me catch the train to Adelaide. Most people nowadays fly, but I prefer to avoid that unless necessary (as was the case with my fishing trip). Although I was in cattle class, or more accurately "Red Daynighter" Class, my seat for the 26 hour journey was much more comfortable than I expected, and I managed a really good night's sleep. My carriage had toilets and showers at each end, and there was bags of legroom. Kangaroos, wallabies, and emus were regularly spotted along with the usual sheep and cattle.

My digs in Adelaide were not great, and if anything even more run-down than when I stayed there eight years ago. I'd always said I'd never stay in backpacker dorms again, but sadly this was a financial necessity. The current weakness of the pound and strength of the Australian Dollar means that the days when Australia was an affordable place to visit are well and truly over for the time being. A pint of beer now typically costs around GBP6! I have never seen members of the Barmy Army drinking more slowly. Even a bottle of mineral water can cost 3 quid!

Day 1

The day dawned clear and bright with the South Australian sun shining with the kind of intensity that's rarely seen anywhere else in the cricketing world. The weather forecast was for 30C, very little wind, and the sky was expected to remain clear all day. The forecast for the following day was for a broiling 35C! With the pitch predicted to be flat, this was going to be a crucial toss to win, and when Ricky Ponting won it and elected to bat, the hearts of the England fans gathering on the grass bank sank.

As England took to the field, the heat and solar radiation was already overwhelming. We had visions of two long, exhausting days chasing leather, and were completely unprepared for the incredible opening overs. First Katich was brilliantly run out by a direct hit from Jonothan Trott without facing a ball off what had looked to be an easy single. Then Ponting edged Anderson to Swann at slip for a first ball duck! We were as stunned as we were delighted. Off the first ball of Anderson's next over, our delight turned to downright disbelief as Clarke followed in his captain's footsteps for just 2!

Australia 2 runs for 3 wickets on the flattest of pitches in perfect batting conditions!

By lunch they had predictably recovered somewhat, and some sanity returned to the scoreboard thanks to the efforts of Watson and Hussey, and by lunch Australia were 94/3, with Watson having posted his 50 and looking dangerous. Definitely England's session though.

Watson quickly succumbed after lunch, caught by KP off Anderson, and although Hussey and North dug deep, they were never allowed to score fluently off the accurate bowling of Broad and Swann or the ever-threatening Anderson. Meanwhile, although Finny went for runs, he extracted the occasional faint signs of life from the pitch, and was rewarded by the scalp of North, caught behind just before tea, to deny Australia outright victory in a session in which they had often looked fairly comfortable. Suddenly they were 159-5 and wobbling.

Those heroes of Brisbane, Hussey and Haddin were now together though, and for a while anything seemed possible. The heat and radiation were by now absolutely brutal. The official temperature of 32C does not even begin to describe the effect of that sun, even on the spectators, let alone the players. It was like being microwaved. I drank in excess of 10 litres of water, and only needed to use the toilet once! Adelaide Oval was not a pleasant place to be, but the England bowlers and fielders dug deep.

The Hussey/Haddin partnership had accounted for 51 runs, and anything seemed possible when Swann, who'd had a fairly innocuous start to his Ashes campaign by his high standards accounted for Hussey, caught by Collingwood for 93.

This sparked a tail-end collapse as the utterly shell-shocked and demoralised Australians fell apart. The highlight of this collapse was the remarkable "relay" run-out of Xavier Doherty, with the ball thrown from Strauss to Cook, then on to Prior!

Haddin was the last to fall, holing out to Finny on the boundary, who coolly held on to give the economical Broad a well-deserved wicket. Australia all out for 245, something that they could barely have imagined happening on that pitch and in those conditions.

England had a solitary over left to face, and did so without losing a wicket, finishing on 1/0.

It was an absolutely remarkable England performance.


Day 2

The day was forecast to be even hotter than yesterday, but as it turned out, there was a slight haze, and the Sun's radiation felt slightly less intense at first. What's more, Straussy fell early, bowled by Bollinger while shouldering arms. That was to be it though as far as the Aussies were concerned until shortly before tea when Trott fell for 74, providing some relief for the hosts, who were looking ragged.

Cook was continuing where he left off at The Gabba, except this innings, although just as disciplined, was more fluent. His 100 came after tea off 171 deliveries. By then the heat had built up to ridiculous levels. The scoreboard flashed up "It's 37 degrees - be sun smart!" A bit late for anyone who wasn't being sun smart, I'd have thought.

Last time I was in Adelaide, I stood on the grass bank under the big screen with the Barmy Army. This time though I'd given up on that, due to a combination of the intense heat, overcrowding, back pain, and  the fact I'm not getting any younger. I sat with Andy Clark, editor of the excellent "Corridor of Uncertainty" fanzine. He had so much hassle off Cricket Australia last time for selling his fanzine that the current issue is being distributed free.

We watched with glee as Cook was joined by KP, and the pair gave England a healthy lead of 62 by the close, as the Aussies were literally (to quote one Australian newspaper) "Cooked at 38 degrees."

My hostel dorm, which had been like an oven the previous night was now more like a brick kiln. One fellow inmate asked the manager about the A/C, only to be told "it doesn't work when it's really hot." I had been warned by one reviewer on Hostelworld that the hostel sits above a nightclub, so can therefore be noisy at weekends. I shouldn't have worried. Any noise from the nightclub was completely drowned out by the noisy all-night drinking game that was taking place on the balcony outside my dorm window. I had to dodge the resultant puddles of sick in the corridor every time I got up and took a cold shower to alleviate my suffering.

Day 3

A day of somewhat overcast conditions much more favourable for bowling than the previous day. Cook and KP, the latter back to his aggressive best, laid into the increasingly threadbare Australian attack. KP's hundred took 158 balls. Cook finally fell to a brilliant catch by Haddin off the bowling of Harris for 148, but Collingwood only carried on where he left off. He eventually fell LBW off Watson for 42, but the arrival of the in-form Bell at the crease only meant more misery for Ponting's men, who by now were looking and fielding like a pub team second XI. KP's double century was reached just before tea. It came off 283 balls. Sadly during the tea interval, rain intervened, with England on 551/4, and no more play was possible. This must have been a tremendous relief to the Australians, who were looking utterly spent.

Day 4

Rain was forecast for today and tomorrow, and there was speculation of an overnight declaration. The lead was not quite enough though, and the clear conditions meant it was best to bat on until cloud cover gave some help to the new ball bowlers.

This gave KP and Bell the opportunity to "give it some tap." It also gave the Harlequin cap-wearing contingent the opportunity for some serious Aussie-baiting. Corridor of Uncertainty editor Andy Clark had recently obtained permission from the exclusive Oxford University-based Harlequin Cricket Club to have a number of said caps made in honour of the late Aussie-Baiter-in Chief and founding father of modern Test cricket captaincy, Douglas Jardine. His wearing of this colourful headwear of course used to send the Australian public into a frenzy of apoplexy.

The reaction to the wearing of these caps, often in conjunction with "Douglas Jardine Ashes Hero" T-shirts had been surprisingly muted in Brisbane, but we were able to observe that both the memory and irrational hatred of Jardine here in Adelaide is still incredibly strong.

"Come on! Chase that leather!" and "Lazy fielding! It's like watching the West Indies!" could be heard as the fielders fell below even the standard of the pub team 2nd XI fielding observed yesterday. They really were an absolute shambles.

Mr. Jardine would probably not have approved of such barracking of course, but he was a man of his time, and just maybe had he lived long enough he might have had a quiet smirk to himself.

When KP was finally dismissed for his highest ever Test score of 227, giving the hapless Doherty what may turn out to be his last ever Test wicket, the Australians didn't even celebrate. They had no reason to either, since this brought Matty Prior to the crease, who proceeded not only to flog them some more, but make them look like complete chumps in the process. England finally declared on 620/5, which ought to have been enough except for the nagging question of the weather.

Anderson didn't quite live up to the standards set in the first innings with the new ball, however, and Watson and Katich battled bravely, putting on 84 for the first wicket and looking comfortable. Then Swann struck to remove both Katich and Ponting in fairly quick succession, and somehow Finny managed to extract something from the pitch with the old ball to send Watson on his way and set Australia reeling at 134/3. It was still a good batting track though, and with plenty of rain forecast between now and the close of play on the final day, Australia still had a real chance of salvaging something. By tea they had progressed to 160/3, and when heavy rain intervened eight overs after the interval with Australia on 175/3, things looked gloomy for England. Only the faithful few remained in the ground, but remarkably the storm blew over, allowing 18 more overs to be bowled. Hussey and Clarke though proved difficult to shift, and it took until the final over for Clarke to be caught at short leg by Cook off the bowling of KP for an impressive 80. A crucial wicket, but with horrendous weather forecast for afternoon of the final day, England still had it all to do.


Day 5

Weather forecasts suggested that England had roughly a session and a half to win the game, rogue showers permitting. With Hussey at the crease and Haddin still to come, Australia ought to have still fancied their chances of saving the game, especially if one of the showers that were around this morning intervened. The pitch was starting to take spin though, and Swann was likely to be a handful.

However it was Finny who made the vital breakthrough, as Hussey got in a complete mess to a shortish one and ballooned an easy catch to Anderson. 261/5. Thereafter Australia never even looked like surviving the first session. They folded spinelessly for 304 to the bowling of Swann and Anderson. The latter finished with figures of 5-91 off 41.1 overs, a very fine effort. It had taken England just 18 overs to complete what looked at the start of play to be a tough challenge. The winning margin was an innings and 71 runs. I don't think I can remember a more one-sided Ashes Test match.

As the Barmy Army celebrated England's laying of the ghost of Adelaide 2006, I still had unfinished business to attend to related to our last visit here.

From the ground I caught the 722F bus to Flinders Medical Centre armed with a Christmas card and various goodies. For it was on this very day exactly four years ago that I had a cardiac arrest. I was admitted in a lifeless state to that establishment and resuscitated by the staff there. I had to go back and say thank you as a conclusion to this emotional trip to those who made it possible.

Now my celebrations can begin in earnest, although they will be strictly booze free, as all my celebrations are nowadays.