Oh it's such a perfect day....

After a Summer of being taunted with chants of "Five-Nil", TV adverts from Ford encouraging kids to "Tonk a Pom!" (a pom being a small ball with the face of a typical Englishman on it ie: Monicle and cravat!) and the Commonwealth Bank taking the mickey outta English back yards ("Let's take a look at the typical English backyard" ... shows scene of dirty grey concrete yard ..."poor blokes don't stand a chance!" We eventually regained some pride last night.

Matt, John and myself went down with our 2nd One Day Final tickets (Christmas presents) to Sydney. We got there in plenty of time for the start and took up our seats in an uncovered stand. It was probably the hottest I've been since I've been here... although Sun Block and hats kept the sun off! We were surrounded by Aussies as you expect but they all seemed to enjoy the banter! I've a very sore throat today after all the hearty appeals and constant chirping! The beer was flowing all around but we stayed off it just to keep filled up with other fluids! The Esky was filled nicely and that kept us going all day!

England batted fairly well but were about 20 runs short of a good total come the end. To see Glenn McGrath's smiling face was a delight (!!!) as he took a wicket with his final ball! Australia's innings was disrupted by regular showers and certainly didn't help their cause (shame!!!) and that mixed in with excellent fielding and bowling put England into a strong position. The friends we had made earlier in the day always made sure our seats had been towelled down before we returned from the back of the stand after rain, it was a lovely gesture that we have come to expect from the Aussies!

The Police moved in quickly to remove anyone starting Mexican Waves (a few did break out!)or falling off chairs while trying to start renditions of Waltzing Matilda (seriously!), but turned a blind eye to inflatable rubber ring (full size) and cactus throwing!

As the rain continued, England took wickets and the run rate required increased the result was inevitable... We hung around as the trophy was presented to the England team in their dressing room before celebrating in the rain with the barmy army!

Still a very disspointing Summer of cricket, but with a brighter end and a fantastic day out!... we arrived back in Newcastle at 1:30am!