I’ve started packing , flying to Adelaide Thursday . First Ashes away match
Can I come?
Yep , more the merrier !
Going with an alcoholic mate, before two other mates and all 4 families join up in Brisbane doing the touristy stuff ( missing Perth test) Then Melbourne for Christmas and test then Sydney for new year , going to a Big Bash game NYD and then the final test (families fly home 2nd day of Sydney test ) and 4 dads fly home after test .
I’ve started packing , flying to Adelaide Thursday . First Ashes away match
Can I come?
Yep , more the merrier !
Going with an alcoholic mate, before two other mates and all 4 families join up in Brisbane doing the touristy stuff ( missing Perth test) Then Melbourne for Christmas and test then Sydney for new year , going to a Big Bash game NYD and then the final test (families fly home 2nd day of Sydney test ) and 4 dads fly home after test .
I’m worried for my liver !
Wicked!
All you'll have to do is pay for my flights, accomodation, tickets and beer?
In return I'll be a good crack and get on the absolute lash with you.
(Belatedly) Gabba Gabba Gabba – Day 5 – A pleasant day
If there was the faintest hope of England rattling out the Aussies, I would have walked the 400 yards from my hotel to The Gabba to see the last rites. Indeed, if I had travelled across the world and missed the most amazing comeback of all time, I would have been gutted. However, batting had looked so easy for the Aussie openers the previous evening that there was no chance that we could take 10 wickets before Australia had claimed the 55 runs needed to surpass the paltry target England had set.
As I came out of my hotel, The Barmy Army though were heading towards The Gabba. I admire their fanatical support, but they must be, well, barmy. I did see a few Aussies heading towards the ground and some, who were enjoying a pre-match beer at 9.30 a.m. They would need to hurry though as the 10am start meant that it could all be over before they had downed their second schooner.
I had taken Garry’s advice at the hotel. Garry was an amiable Kiwi who manned the reception at my hotel much of the time. He too was disappointed that England hadn’t put up a better fight. He had suggested a day out to Surfers Paradise and explained how to get there. So, I was on 11.39 train from South Bank to Noreng to see Surfers Paradise – without, I might add, a surfboard. I might have played a lot of different sports in my day, but I have never had the inclination to climb on a surfboard – let alone, fall off one.
Buying a ticket proved quite challenging until I realised that I was using a faulty machine. Once on the train, I had an old English couple sit behind me (that’s old by my standards even). As we passed through several miles of light industry outside Brisbane, they moaned about England’s efforts. The man gave opinion after opinion whilst his wife agreed and agreed. “Once Anderson and Broad get too old, this team will concede 500 every time”, he offered. “Yes”, agreed his wife – at least, I assume she was. “Once Cook retires, we’ll score less runs too”, he continued. His wife agreed. I wanted to turn round and correct him. “Fewer runs”, I kept thinking, “not less runs”. “And Root’s not a proper captain”, he added. “Not like Illingworth”, she added, giving the first hint of any opinions. “Or, Brearley. He knew how to captain”, he added. “No, that’s right”, she replied.
The train stopped briefly at a small station by a school. I noticed several kids playing cricket. These are the ones that will be skittling us out in 15 years’ time. The kids like their cricket here. Do our kids play cricket in the playground? In fact, on Saturday morning, I took a walk from my hotel before breakfast and saw two teams of schoolboys, probably aged around 9, playing each other at 7.45 a.m. in the morning. Would our kids get up that early to play cricket? Is that why we are losing to Australia? I can’t imagine English kids being ready to get up at 6.30 by parents shouting “Come on, you need to get to school to play cricket”. The kid would probably still be thinking about going to bed having played FIFA 17 all night.
The countryside became more beautiful as the train approached Noreng, the station nearest to Surfers Paradise. A short bus journey takes from Noreng to the beach. Surfers Paradise is a strange place. If I could time travel and go back 30 years, I suspect that I would have been standing by an empty beach with nothing else in sight where the bus dropped me. It’s a huge fantastic beach but not very characterful really.
After a wander on the beach, my friend and I headed for some lunchtime refreshments. He was determined to get a Moreton Bay Bug for his lunch. I’d never heard of them, but they are weird things that are worth a quick Google if you’re unfamiliar with them. The bar we found advertised a selection of seafood, but, alas, no Moreton Bay Bugs. It’s a bit strange to sit outside at a street corner bar and see an ibis walk by and two exotically coloured parrots in the tree above. The town was welcoming lots of youngsters to town for ‘Schoolies’. This seems to be some tradition where loads of youngsters go the beach, wander round in groups or ride electric powered bikes that look like motorbikes. They seem good natured and quieter than expected although that might not be the case the evening, I suspect. Surfers Paradise was pleasant enough but I’m not sure I would have wanted to stay there expect, perhaps, when I was the age to do the ‘Schoolies’.
The last I had seen Australia were 15 runs short of England’s total without losing any further wickets. I don’t know why I bothered to check the final score. It didn’t really matter. Sure enough, they had cruised home by 10 wickets.
My last evening in Brisbane was a quiet one before heading up to Tokyo to work. We decided to try what looked the least attractive bar near our hotel, but once inside, it was reasonably nice with excellent food. An elderly man, who may have owned the bar, wanted to stand by our table and talk to us. He wanted to tell us how pleased he was that Australia had beaten The Poms. I was relieved when he said “Anyway, nice chatting to you, I need to do something”. I was less pleased when he added “I’ll try and talk to you again later” as he walked away with purpose.
England had lost heavily, but I still can say that I have enjoyed my trip to Brisbane. Whether England ever win again at The Gabba in my lifetime will depend on the quality of youngsters coming through and how long I live. They don’t make captains like Illingworth or Brearley any more or batsmen like Boycott, but hopefully we will come back stronger some time. The series is not yet over, but Cook and Root need to score big soon, so that our bowlers have something decent to bowl at and Australia get put under some pressure. We had two or three opportunities to get on top in this game, but each time we let it slip. Australia are not a great side, but at the moment, they look good enough.
"I noticed several kids playing cricket. These are the ones that will be skittling us out in 15 years’ time. The kids like their cricket here. Do our kids play cricket in the playground? In fact, on Saturday morning, I took a walk from my hotel before breakfast and saw two teams of schoolboys, probably aged around 9, playing each other at 7.45 a.m. in the morning. Would our kids get up that early to play cricket? Is that why we are losing to Australia? I can’t imagine English kids being ready to get up at 6.30 by parents shouting “Come on, you need to get to school to play cricket”. The kid would probably still be thinking about going to bed having played FIFA 17 all night."
Seb's nickname at school is "FIFA 10" down to the fact that when a friend stayed over a couple of years ago he suggested to Seb that they played the game - and couldn't stop laughing when he saw the outdated version. Seb plays on a Play Station about two or three times a year and is so poor at the game that another friend suggested at a family party that he should be Real Madrid and his opponent India. Seb still lost even though his mate spent five minutes in the kitchen getting a drink whilst Seb carried on playing!
Seb saw the "FIFA 10" nickname as a badge of honour. He plays guitar, he enjoys photography, he plays table tennis two or three times a week during the winter as well as training and playing cricket throughout the year. In fact he takes any opportunity he can to play and train and for his first two years at senior school, along with four or five of his friends, he used to get in before 7.30 and practice every day for 45 minutes in the nets - the playground is too small and too crowded to do so.
Well guess what happened last September? The school decided that there was a greater need for a dance and drama centre to be built so down came the nets. So the school had no nets whatsoever and no viable plans or, so it appeared, funding to replace them. I wrote a letter of complaint to the school pointing out that their mission statement was to support all the main team sports - they don't play football so that left just rugby and cricket. Cricket without any training facilities.
Some 14 months on the school has now started to re-build the nets so the kids can now practice again. Until next time they decide the space is needed for a discipline far more important than cricket that is.
After TWO MONTHS the police have finally handed over the case to the CPS. Little chance of a decision before Christmas I imagine...
I heard a whisper that the file has been passed to a bloke who's currently on paternity leave, but he's back in 2 weeks time.........but 2 days later they have their xmas party & then he's off over xmas & new year. He did say he'll have a look at it on his first day back, that being Jan 8th.
Get Stokesy back in the side I say - he hasn't been charged with anything, and even if he is, it probably won't be until after the Ashes anyhow. Give him a game ban (Brisbane), and then a suspended sentence for the rest of the series - job done.
If he were an Aussie he would not have missed a match.
Get Stokesy back in the side I say - he hasn't been charged with anything, and even if he is, it probably won't be until after the Ashes anyhow. Give him a game ban (Brisbane), and then a suspended sentence for the rest of the series - job done.
If he were an Aussie he would not have missed a match.
The fact that the file has been passed to the CPS means that the Police believe that Stokes does have a case to answer. The ECB will not allow him to play for England whilst this is hanging over him but can't restrict his ability to work elsewhere.
Shane Warne was sent home from the World Cup after testing positive for a banned drug. They didn't wait for further tests to be done.
Ricky Ponting was banned for three matches as punishment for his part in a nightclub brawl. He had already missed two of Australia's one-day internationals against England and Sri Lanka after being dropped because of the incident, when he was knocked out in a Sydney nightclub.
So I'm really not sure that Australia would have allowed Stokes to play.
2 one dayers are the not the same as The Ashes, and Warne tested positive and probably admitted it at that point. I think they are both different circumstances.
If there is nothing legally stopping Stokes playing then I have no idea why he isn't.
For the same reason I didn't want KP dropped, I don't want Stokes dropped.
Both acted like dickheads, both shouldn't have been exiled.
Wasn't Warner banned from 1 Test after punching Root?
It's an interesting dilemma. If the ECB had known that the Police would take TWO months to investigate the case, they might have decided to let Stokes play, as chances are the CPS won't decide to prosecute or not until after the series is largely over now
I think it is morally right for the ECB not to allow Stokes to play while this case is ongoing. Some things are more important than cricket.
Thought it was innocent until proven guilty?
It is, but it is right that when someone is under investigation for a criminal act, that they are suspended from Cricket until the case has either been heard or dropped. It has now been referred to the CPS, so I believe that the right decision was made by the ECB.
I think it is morally right for the ECB not to allow Stokes to play while this case is ongoing. Some things are more important than cricket.
Thought it was innocent until proven guilty?
It is, but it is right that when someone is under investigation for a criminal act, that they are suspended from Cricket until the case has either been heard or dropped. It has now been referred to the CPS, so I believe that the right decision was made by the ECB.
2 one dayers are the not the same as The Ashes, and Warne tested positive and probably admitted it at that point. I think they are both different circumstances.
If there is nothing legally stopping Stokes playing then I have no idea why he isn't.
For the same reason I didn't want KP dropped, I don't want Stokes dropped.
Both acted like dickheads, both shouldn't have been exiled.
Whether Ponting was banned from three ODIs or the Ashes is irrelevant. The fact is that he was banned. But the most important thing of all is that Ponting wasn't facing charges - unlike Stokes. Australia banned Ponting because he had a drink problem and they felt it was the only way to get him to sort himself out. Ponting said at the time "I’m very, very embarrassed about this whole situation. On occasions I’ve drunk too much. I intend to overcome this problem." And Ponting did sort himself out to become one of their greatest ever batsman.
Stokes was totally out of control. He like using his fists. Just ask the locker that he elected to punch that led to him missing the T20 WC. But hey that was the ECB's fault too no doubt.
Stokes chose to carry on despite being told to stop on any number of occasions by Hales. And that is the issue as the definition of reasonable force is "the amount of force necessary to protect oneself or one's property" which is why, presumably, the file is with the CPA.
It is now almost five years since Stokes and Coles were sent home from the Lions Tour. The ECB issued this statement at the time:
“On a very challenging tour to Australia, both Matt and Ben have ignored the instructions given to them around their match preparation and recovery,” said David Parsons, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s performance director. “Following previous warnings, it is regrettable that it has been necessary to terminate their involvement in the tour. “Both are very talented individuals and it is hoped that, with the support of the ECB and their respective counties, they will take positive steps to give themselves the very best chance of fulfilling their potential.
Stokes, 21, has been in trouble before having been arrested and cautioned for obstructing police in a drink-related incident in December 2011. At the time, Durham said they would take the matter extremely seriously but any punishment appears to have had little effect in changing his undisciplined ways."
Stokes' father even wrote to the ECB thanking them for sending him home because he felt that this would make him grow up.
Neither Stokes nor Coles (who has been subsequently banned by his county for other misdemeanors) have learnt from this. Even if we dismiss the notion that Stokes has a responsibility to being a role model to those kids who want to play cricket, he has an undeniable responsibility to his family and specifically to his wife and two young children. Stokes is 26 now. Not 18 though his mocking of Katie Price's disabled son, Harvey, would suggest that he is nearer 12.
Whether Stokes, as he most certainly would do, would improve our side in this Ashes series is irrelevant. But the speculation that he might be available to play only serves to disrupt the England camp. Though, of course, we wouldn't be in this position now had Stokes acting a bit more responsibly in the first place.
Comments
Going with an alcoholic mate, before two other mates and all 4 families join up in Brisbane doing the touristy stuff ( missing Perth test)
Then Melbourne for Christmas and test then Sydney for new year , going to a Big Bash game NYD and then the final test (families fly home 2nd day of Sydney test ) and 4 dads fly home after test .
I’m worried for my liver !
https://rugbypass.com/news/ball-suffers-dislocated-shoulder-tipuric-springboks-test/
All you'll have to do is pay for my flights, accomodation, tickets and beer?
In return I'll be a good crack and get on the absolute lash with you.
Deal?
:-)
Best hope is a drawn series by winning two of Adelaide, Melbourne and/or Sydney.
If there was the faintest hope of England rattling out the Aussies, I would have walked the 400 yards from my hotel to The Gabba to see the last rites. Indeed, if I had travelled across the world and missed the most amazing comeback of all time, I would have been gutted. However, batting had looked so easy for the Aussie openers the previous evening that there was no chance that we could take 10 wickets before Australia had claimed the 55 runs needed to surpass the paltry target England had set.
As I came out of my hotel, The Barmy Army though were heading towards The Gabba. I admire their fanatical support, but they must be, well, barmy. I did see a few Aussies heading towards the ground and some, who were enjoying a pre-match beer at 9.30 a.m. They would need to hurry though as the 10am start meant that it could all be over before they had downed their second schooner.
I had taken Garry’s advice at the hotel. Garry was an amiable Kiwi who manned the reception at my hotel much of the time. He too was disappointed that England hadn’t put up a better fight. He had suggested a day out to Surfers Paradise and explained how to get there. So, I was on 11.39 train from South Bank to Noreng to see Surfers Paradise – without, I might add, a surfboard. I might have played a lot of different sports in my day, but I have never had the inclination to climb on a surfboard – let alone, fall off one.
Buying a ticket proved quite challenging until I realised that I was using a faulty machine. Once on the train, I had an old English couple sit behind me (that’s old by my standards even). As we passed through several miles of light industry outside Brisbane, they moaned about England’s efforts. The man gave opinion after opinion whilst his wife agreed and agreed. “Once Anderson and Broad get too old, this team will concede 500 every time”, he offered. “Yes”, agreed his wife – at least, I assume she was. “Once Cook retires, we’ll score less runs too”, he continued. His wife agreed. I wanted to turn round and correct him. “Fewer runs”, I kept thinking, “not less runs”. “And Root’s not a proper captain”, he added. “Not like Illingworth”, she added, giving the first hint of any opinions. “Or, Brearley. He knew how to captain”, he added. “No, that’s right”, she replied.
The train stopped briefly at a small station by a school. I noticed several kids playing cricket. These are the ones that will be skittling us out in 15 years’ time. The kids like their cricket here. Do our kids play cricket in the playground? In fact, on Saturday morning, I took a walk from my hotel before breakfast and saw two teams of schoolboys, probably aged around 9, playing each other at 7.45 a.m. in the morning. Would our kids get up that early to play cricket? Is that why we are losing to Australia? I can’t imagine English kids being ready to get up at 6.30 by parents shouting “Come on, you need to get to school to play cricket”. The kid would probably still be thinking about going to bed having played FIFA 17 all night.
The countryside became more beautiful as the train approached Noreng, the station nearest to Surfers Paradise. A short bus journey takes from Noreng to the beach. Surfers Paradise is a strange place. If I could time travel and go back 30 years, I suspect that I would have been standing by an empty beach with nothing else in sight where the bus dropped me. It’s a huge fantastic beach but not very characterful really.
After a wander on the beach, my friend and I headed for some lunchtime refreshments. He was determined to get a Moreton Bay Bug for his lunch. I’d never heard of them, but they are weird things that are worth a quick Google if you’re unfamiliar with them. The bar we found advertised a selection of seafood, but, alas, no Moreton Bay Bugs. It’s a bit strange to sit outside at a street corner bar and see an ibis walk by and two exotically coloured parrots in the tree above. The town was welcoming lots of youngsters to town for ‘Schoolies’. This seems to be some tradition where loads of youngsters go the beach, wander round in groups or ride electric powered bikes that look like motorbikes. They seem good natured and quieter than expected although that might not be the case the evening, I suspect. Surfers Paradise was pleasant enough but I’m not sure I would have wanted to stay there expect, perhaps, when I was the age to do the ‘Schoolies’.
The last I had seen Australia were 15 runs short of England’s total without losing any further wickets. I don’t know why I bothered to check the final score. It didn’t really matter. Sure enough, they had cruised home by 10 wickets.
My last evening in Brisbane was a quiet one before heading up to Tokyo to work. We decided to try what looked the least attractive bar near our hotel, but once inside, it was reasonably nice with excellent food. An elderly man, who may have owned the bar, wanted to stand by our table and talk to us. He wanted to tell us how pleased he was that Australia had beaten The Poms. I was relieved when he said “Anyway, nice chatting to you, I need to do something”. I was less pleased when he added “I’ll try and talk to you again later” as he walked away with purpose.
England had lost heavily, but I still can say that I have enjoyed my trip to Brisbane. Whether England ever win again at The Gabba in my lifetime will depend on the quality of youngsters coming through and how long I live. They don’t make captains like Illingworth or Brearley any more or batsmen like Boycott, but hopefully we will come back stronger some time. The series is not yet over, but Cook and Root need to score big soon, so that our bowlers have something decent to bowl at and Australia get put under some pressure. We had two or three opportunities to get on top in this game, but each time we let it slip. Australia are not a great side, but at the moment, they look good enough.
Over and out from Brisbane.
Seb's nickname at school is "FIFA 10" down to the fact that when a friend stayed over a couple of years ago he suggested to Seb that they played the game - and couldn't stop laughing when he saw the outdated version. Seb plays on a Play Station about two or three times a year and is so poor at the game that another friend suggested at a family party that he should be Real Madrid and his opponent India. Seb still lost even though his mate spent five minutes in the kitchen getting a drink whilst Seb carried on playing!
Seb saw the "FIFA 10" nickname as a badge of honour. He plays guitar, he enjoys photography, he plays table tennis two or three times a week during the winter as well as training and playing cricket throughout the year. In fact he takes any opportunity he can to play and train and for his first two years at senior school, along with four or five of his friends, he used to get in before 7.30 and practice every day for 45 minutes in the nets - the playground is too small and too crowded to do so.
Well guess what happened last September? The school decided that there was a greater need for a dance and drama centre to be built so down came the nets. So the school had no nets whatsoever and no viable plans or, so it appeared, funding to replace them. I wrote a letter of complaint to the school pointing out that their mission statement was to support all the main team sports - they don't play football so that left just rugby and cricket. Cricket without any training facilities.
Some 14 months on the school has now started to re-build the nets so the kids can now practice again. Until next time they decide the space is needed for a discipline far more important than cricket that is.
Definitely a life tick box to go to an Ashes away game
Enjoy your trip
After TWO MONTHS the police have finally handed over the case to the CPS. Little chance of a decision before Christmas I imagine...
If he were an Aussie he would not have missed a match.
Shane Warne was sent home from the World Cup after testing positive for a banned drug. They didn't wait for further tests to be done.
Ricky Ponting was banned for three matches as punishment for his part in a nightclub brawl. He had already missed two of Australia's one-day internationals against England and Sri Lanka after being dropped because of the incident, when he was knocked out in a Sydney nightclub.
So I'm really not sure that Australia would have allowed Stokes to play.
If there is nothing legally stopping Stokes playing then I have no idea why he isn't.
For the same reason I didn't want KP dropped, I don't want Stokes dropped.
Both acted like dickheads, both shouldn't have been exiled.
It's an interesting dilemma. If the ECB had known that the Police would take TWO months to investigate the case, they might have decided to let Stokes play, as chances are the CPS won't decide to prosecute or not until after the series is largely over now
Stokes was totally out of control. He like using his fists. Just ask the locker that he elected to punch that led to him missing the T20 WC. But hey that was the ECB's fault too no doubt.
Stokes chose to carry on despite being told to stop on any number of occasions by Hales. And that is the issue as the definition of reasonable force is "the amount of force necessary to protect oneself or one's property" which is why, presumably, the file is with the CPA.
It is now almost five years since Stokes and Coles were sent home from the Lions Tour. The ECB issued this statement at the time:
“On a very challenging tour to Australia, both Matt and Ben have ignored the instructions given to them around their match preparation and recovery,” said David Parsons, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s performance director. “Following previous warnings, it is regrettable that it has been necessary to terminate their involvement in the tour.
“Both are very talented individuals and it is hoped that, with the support of the ECB and their respective counties, they will take positive steps to give themselves the very best chance of fulfilling their potential.
Stokes, 21, has been in trouble before having been arrested and cautioned for obstructing police in a drink-related incident in December 2011. At the time, Durham said they would take the matter extremely seriously but any punishment appears to have had little effect in changing his undisciplined ways."
Stokes' father even wrote to the ECB thanking them for sending him home because he felt that this would make him grow up.
Neither Stokes nor Coles (who has been subsequently banned by his county for other misdemeanors) have learnt from this. Even if we dismiss the notion that Stokes has a responsibility to being a role model to those kids who want to play cricket, he has an undeniable responsibility to his family and specifically to his wife and two young children. Stokes is 26 now. Not 18 though his mocking of Katie Price's disabled son, Harvey, would suggest that he is nearer 12.
Whether Stokes, as he most certainly would do, would improve our side in this Ashes series is irrelevant. But the speculation that he might be available to play only serves to disrupt the England camp. Though, of course, we wouldn't be in this position now had Stokes acting a bit more responsibly in the first place.