After a momentary panic on Christmas Eve, lack of sleep, and continued edginess on Christmas Day, I finally found the tickets for the cricket and we set off. We were there early to meet Josh and to see Ricky Ponting win the toss and bat. We were sitting near the front and close to the notorious Bay 13. To spice things up further, we were directly behind a particularly rowdy bunch of Pakistani supporters.
It was quite a slow day, Pakistan bombed a few chances and both Australian openers were dismissed in the 90's which was rather amusing, particularly the Shane Watson run out. Ricky Ponting made a quick 50 to liven things up and Australia finished well on top at the end of the day (and would go on to win comfortably).
Although it was only mid 20's, it was still hot enough to get sun burnt and the drunk crowd to get boisterous. They kept us entertained with chants, beer snakes, a 'streaker' who was absolutely pathetic, and the odd abusive racial slur (it wouldn't be Australia without it....) With about an hour to go there were people getting escorted out by security on a regular basis so we moved upstairs to find a quieter spot, which we did find but we were still entertained by idiots, including one who decided it was an appropriate time for a haka. That was rather embarrassing.
Nonetheless, it was a super day at the cricket and experience well worth repeating.
