Paul Lupton at the 3rd Ashes Test in Perth, Dec 2006

Gud Day from W.A.

Day 1 – Battle of the Tashes – from the W.A.C.A, Perth

The 3rd test erupted into an orgy of wicket mayhem after the first hour of play today with man of the day Monty Panesar, the Luton spin doctor, claiming 5 – 92, sending the Army delirious in the beautiful Perth sunshine.

We are staying some way out of Perth City in Ellenbrook, which is a good hour from the centre and has to be done by road and rail. The new rail links have made Perth very commutable with lovely spacious bungalowed suburbs feeding into the more and more Manhattan looking city skyline.

Lee (my mate from Norcross 16 years ago) and I.had Member’s passes and arrived at the ground one hour before the start of play. Problem number one was finding us a seat – 45 minutes later we realized 14,000 members couldn’t quite settle into 8,000 members seats. So unfortunately we settled in the bar area which had its own bonuses – yep, a/c! Some (members) had queued since 6.30am – 5 hours before play was due to start.and our friend in the bar area Trent who we chatted freely with all day and his Sligo colleague had been there that early and still not managed outside seats.

With the ground chocker 45 minutes before play and Australia winning the toss electing to bat, the players lined up almost in front of us for the national anthems. Time was now galloping by and then the first ball by Hoggie from the Lillee/Marsh Members stand was delivered swinging in to Hayden ever so slightly to loud commotion from the army at the other end. Langer and Mattie Hayden immediately pounced on anything not quite on line and Hoggard in particular had a few early expensive overs. Everything was serenely going as the W.A. crowd expected but then Hayden tickled a half volley to Jones and we had game on at one for forty eight.

Freddy’s wayward line gave way to the under pressure Harmison, who after a couple of innocuous overs had the world’s number batsmen trapped leg before and the place went crazy. There were a few boos from locals following the hawkeye replay but from my angle at fine leg I felt it was a fair decision and not going as high as the replays seemed to suggest. Enter the MoTM (man of the moment).

The feature of the day was that when the runs dried up wickets fell so it was a fits and starts performance. So just as the urn was steaming up for lunch, Monty provided the ball of the day clean bowling Justin Langer for 37 and Monty went off wheeling away in his skippy and high fives and the kettle whistled for lunch. Monty was virtually clapped in by the whole ground and his popularity already high was now off the popularity barometer. Indeed, had Freddy made his catch at third slip England could have been even better off.

Lee and I met my buddy Simon, from the Civil Service FC and the trumpet player, restored, lead the army into a chourus of God Save.as the players re-emerged. This was a crunch session. Hussey and Clarke were restoring order and Australia passed 100 and then runs dried and a poor shot by Clarke off Harmi saw the Durham windmill take a quite superb return catch and even people in the bar area gasped at that one. I have to say it was a breathe taking wicket and we could see it so clearly – although a mishit it took some skill to react so quickly.

Freddy had by now had Monty fielding in front of the Army and they were baying for success and it arrived with Jones taking a lucky but good recovery catch at the second attempt and the Full Monty was stripping the Ozzie batting aorder apart. Warney hit a few lucky lusty blows and even though Symonds threatened to hammer Monty out of the attack with 2 sixes in successive deliveries England were finding the fizzy and bouncy track to their liking.

Tea arrived and I was pinching myself – bourbon and coke was now on the table and the Army was in full voice with standing ovations for every piece of England (& Wales) tidy play that occurred. The Australians passed 200 but were by now staring a low total and there was no mercy from Harmison and Mudhusden Singh Panesar as the tail was mopped up. The smiles on the English faces were as wide as the Swan estuary and we just hoped Strauss and Cook could see us off to a start.

The England openers were rattling the boundary rope with Strauss in particular feasting off Brett Lee’s over pitching and then bouncers. However once McGrath and lee had found their rhythm the runs stopped and a nervous hush descended for the last 8 overs as Cook and then Bell succumed to difficult shorter balls from Lee who was really hitting the deck.

Time called we took our last pictures and slooped off for amber refreshment at the Brass Monkey and discussed proceedings - some more easily than others!