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The Lords Test Diariesby AST Tour Members Dave and Richard Flanders
We departed from Tullamarine (Melbourne) on July 19th bound for London. We knew we had the right gate as there was AST shirts everywhere. We decided to save our shirts for the cricket. Some people must have bought more than one as the shirts were on again at the Cricket. Richard celebrated his birthday during the flight and managed to have a 36 hour day for his birthday as we crossed time zones his birthday was extended. He still only got one present.
We arrived in London and met our tour hosts Nick Franc, Matt Franc and Duncan Smith. We also met our bus driver (Turbo, or as I called him Melways). It was our first Monopoly board tour of London as Turbo got lost and drove past King Cross station twice and several of the Monopoly board properties. We finally made it to the Radisson Grafton and checked in. The location of the hotel was terrific with close access to a train station (Warren St), pubs, restaurants and a laundrette.
The 1st Test Lords
Up early in the morning for the first briefing with Merv Hughes and "Funky" Miller. Merv spoke confidently about how the Ashes would go. He could not tell us who the twelfth man would be as he is now a test selector, but he did tell us how many of the Pommie players would get a game for Australia. Not many of them were rated very highly. We boarded our bus called “Dizzy’s Dinkums”. We were still excited about heading to Lords and didn’t notice that we still had the same driver as yesterday. The short trip to Lords took 45 minutes and showed us more of the Monopoly sites that we missed yesterday. I nearly had enough properties now for a hotel! We should have all collected £200 as we must have passed "GO", at least twice. We got to Lords and I went straight to the shop. Richard wasn’t too happy as he missed seeing Ponting winning the toss. The shop was packed and I knew there would be limited number of things my size. Last time we went to Lords I had the use of Richard’s credit card, but I was taken aback this time when he strangely decided to wait outside the shop. For the record I bought 6 ties, 1 ashes urn, 3 T-shirts and 2 polo shirts. We had been there before so I limited my purchases to only £150.
The ground was packed yet I still managed to spot some mates who sat just in front of our group. The AST crew looked like a hill of sunflowers (pictured above) with the bright yellow hats and green/white cricket shirts. Luckily the large bumble bees in London did not hang around for long. We batted first but we only managed 190 runs. There was plenty of fours included but some silly shots saw us fielding early. This was not going to plan as set out by Merv that morning. He did say to look for “pivotal moments” and we were soon to see the one for today. The crowd at the cricket in England is certainly different to what most of us were used to and we had a taste of the antics of the Barmy Army. There was only a small group of them but they made their presence known with a variety of songs as the Aussie wickets fell. We later determined that they sang more after their medication (jugs of Pimm’s, bottles of wine and large quantities of beer) kicked in. They soon went quiet when Glenn McGrath came into to bowl his first spell. It was by far the best bowling I had seen by an individual in 10 overs. I had prepared a banner for his 500th wicket (pictured below) and it wasn’t long before it came out. The security at Lord’s quickly told me to put the banner away but they didn’t stop Glenn from wrecking havoc on the poor English batsman. The songs from the Barmey Army were less and less as each wicket fell. The large contingent of Aussie supporters found their voice with the team finishing on top at the end of the day.
There were a few dramas after the first day with a bomb scare at the train station near our hotel. Unfortunately most of group could not return to the hotel. The AST management did a wonderful job of arranging alternative accommodation out at Radisson Heathrow. The next morning Richard and I were the only ones with clean shirts on thanks to my spending at the Lords shop the day before. The rest of the group were pleased that we returned to our hotel to change before heading to Lord’s. I collected more monopoly sites as our bus driver still couldn’t manage to find the ground but we arrived in the nick of time at 10:20am. Several of our group went to the shop to buy some of the shirts worn by the Flanders Brothers. I decided it was time to show my true colours and put on my slim/trim short sleeve Geelong Football Club Cats jumper. The crowd went wild! - I guess I should have changed in the toilet rather than in front of everybody! England was soon all out for 155. We were then treated to some magnificent batting by Michael Clarke and Damian Martyn. Apart from our group of ex-cricketers I spotted Alan Border and Mark Taylor in the crowd. Lords certainly is the home of cricket.
Once you show your colours you need your team to do the right thing and win games. As a mad passionate Geelong supporter my wardrobe consists of a great deal of Geelong polo shirts. I did have a few cricket tops sprinkled in amongst my gear but mainly Geelong tops. I knew I was in trouble when Merv asked me why I had that shirt on when his beloved Bulldogs beat the Cats. Despite this, some of the other members of the group decided that day three was footy jumper day (picture below). Our trip to the ground today was with a new driver Mick who proved very capable of finding the major sporting venue in London in only 8 minutes. Thankfully we did not see Turbo again for the rest of the trip. We debated about where he had gone - I thought he had gone back to his job as a taxi driver, others thought he may have got lost on his own. The bus had a name change after the effort of Glenn McGrath on day one the group decided that “McGrath’s Marauders” was more appropriate. Australia finished the day needing only five more English wickets to wrap up the First Test.
Day four we arrived early but could have stayed in bed a little bit longer as the weather was not good. The covers were on and the forecast for the day was not good. We spent the day wandering around the ground looking for a place to sit under cover and ended up around the back of the members stand a guest of one of the members. He kindly offered us seats and drinks. We could hardly insult him especially as our team was about to win the First Test. Play finally started at 3.45 pm and the Aussies only took 1 hour to clean up the 5 wickets they needed. Glenn McGrath was named man of the match and Australia was 1 up. Our group had come up with some songs to compete with the Barmy Army. We put it together before the next test with contributions of songs coming from many quarters. I have included a couple of my favourites.
Song 1
Watch the Bill Saturday night
Then you can play for ENGLAND
My granny is South African
So I can play for ENGLAND
You can't bowl you can't bat
So you can play for ENGLAND
I couldn't catch a cold
So I can play for ENGLAND
My innings now will always fold
So I can play for ENGLAND
Haven't showered in 15 years
So I can play for ENGLAND
We are the best team in the world
I must play for AUSTRALIA
Song 2
God save poor Michael Vaughan
From Glenn McGrath and Warne
God save poor Vaughan
His team can’t hold a catch
They are a lousy batch
They’ll never win a single match
God save poor Vaughan.
What do you do in the gap between the tests?
Since the Aussies cleaned up the Poms in 4 days we had a rest day on the fifth day. A chance for a sleep in then off to Harrod’s department store. The store is unbelievable, they have everything including a wonderful food hall were we caught up some of our group having a snack. Jamie and I were like two Bulls in a China shop and security could be seen keeping a close eye on us - thankfully we did not break anything expensive. That night we had our postponed function at The Oval with guest speaker Graham Gooch. It was an enjoyable night with a large group of people attending as our bus was joined by the other groups on the tour. The speakers that night included Merv, "Funky" Miller, Geoff Lawson, Terry Alderman and Gooch (panle pictured below). I am glad we had Gooch that night and not at the next function after the 2nd Test. He was given a hard time but spoke very well keeping the crowd entertained with his stories and views on the current side.
2nd rest day
Today we went to Lord’s for a tour. I took my replica Urn along and it proved popular with the others on the trip as they had their photo taken with it. I took a great photo of Nick on the balcony holding the replica urn and also had my photo taken with Merv in the Australian dressing rooms. In the background is the updated board showing opposition bowlers who have taken 5 wickets or more at Lords. Glenn McGrath’s name had been added with tape for his 5 wickets in the first innings. Our group had our photo taken in the stand with the Aussie flag and the Glenn McGrath banner.
The First test at Lord’s was terrific and the whole trip was very enjoyable. I can’t wait until the next Ashes tour - I will certainly be one of the first registered. Thanks to the AST group for an extremely enjoyable and well organised tour! |
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