Julia's 2003 Ashes Series Diary...
TEST DAY 1 - Tuesday 11th February 2003
After a tiring journey back through Sydney to pick up Therese McGregor, we finally arrive in Brisbane. The Australian Under 23 team are in camp at the moment in Brisbane as well as they are to play England tomorrow in a two-day game. Kate, Alex's twin sister is in that team and the sisters were spotted flashing their room lights at each other across the river to each other's accommodation. Must be a twin thing.
Small complication at the airport with us leaving our stereo in Sydney and Clea and Mark's (heading back for work) bags turning up in Brisbane. All sorted by our ever efficient manager Claire thankfully as known of us were functioning by this stage of the trip and just needed a bed badly. With a 3 hour difference, jet lag was already starting to kick in.
Up early due to everyone thinking it was 8 in Christchurch and then off for a "supposed" recovery session. This "Recovery " session involved a ten minute run followed by some fartlek running, then some stair runs followed by a Chariots of Fire style run around dockside where we were nearly run over about four times by trucks, all done in 30 degree heat. Hate to see our fitness sessions.
All receive our Test kit today. Very exciting time as quite a few of the girls haven't played a test yet. This however was beyond Emma Twining who started complaining that her shirt didn't have a Test number on it. Possibly because you haven't played a test yet Em.
Afternoon spent training followed by getting a few supplies for the stay, namely breakfast. 36L of milk was required which created quite a scene at the local supermarket where the checkout girl had never seen so much milk purchased at once. Something to pop down in her diary no doubt.
Evening finished off with Andrew Symonds smashing an unbeaten 143 which will hopefully stop all those critics out there who have no idea how well he has done in tight situations this season for Qld.
TEST DAY 2 - Wednesday 12th February 2003
An early start for some who chose to go running with Bails in the morning for their 20 minute compulsory run who got back 40 minutes later. Fortunately some of us decided to go it alone and only did the compulsory 20 minutes.
Stopped by Steve this morning so that he could say good morning to me. I notice that Steve is in his Aussie gear and has a towel casually slung over his right shoulder. Stupidly I ask why he's wearing what he is. He proudly states "Been running on the treadmill". Mark Sorell has somehow turned Steve "can't touch my toes" Jenkin into some sort of fitness freak in a matter of two weeks. I think I am now expected to spread the word of Steve's early morning activities. No big deal for us Steve, now you know how we feel multiplied by 10.
Training at the Gabba where Adam Dale joined our fast bowlers for a bit of a mental session with the girls and gave them a few tips here and there on how to cope with the harsh conditions the Gabba can sometimes impose. Notice there weren't too many hints for the batsmen.
Afternoon session out at Allan Border Oval watching our Under 23 team play against England. This was followed by a Commonwealth Bank Coaching Clinic for a group of kids of all ages. Everyone had a great time, including us, coaching these kids and pretty much mucking around with them. Karen Rolton tried hard to get her team ahead with her batting in continuous cricket but struggled running between wickets which wasn't really a surprise to the rest of the group.
Team dinner at the Story Bridge Hotel and then an early night despite having the no commitments until 2.30pm tomorrow. Woo hoo.
TEST DAY 3 - Thursday 13th February 2003
Day off to a good start with Australia beating the poms 3-1 in the Soccer. Popped downstairs for a bit of a loosener in the pool and was trapped by Steve who oddly enough was lurking around the area. "See the Soccer Steve" I say. "Yeah, couldn't watch the whole game though as I could only run for 53 minutes on the treadmill while watching it". Walked into that one. Bugger.
Must mention that on my way to drop off this computer to Lisa S's room last night, thought I'd do the right thing and take the stairs for the one storey that I had to walk. Unfortunately this left me locked in the stairwell due to all the doors being bolted. NOTE: In case of a fire, ignore warning signs and take lift.
Morning off which was spent by most of the girl's in town shopping for various items, namely white bras and undies due to our new Test uniform being a little more see-through than the one-day kit. Rolly and Gozzy go and buy some blue glitter nail polish. Why, only they can tell you. Mel Jones however has succumbed to the "power cut" and went in for a chop today. And not just your everyday chop. A girl in the know "namely me" has taken Melanie to a friend's hairdressing shop where she was pampered and fussed over by the "king of Curl" Luke Reynolds. Luke also happens to be heading down to Sydney next week as a finalist in the Queensland Hairdresser of the Year. After going through the celebrities' hair that he has cut (Savage Garden, Lee Kernaghan - yes under that hat etc) we tell him it's alright to use the name Melanie Jones as well. "Who?" is the reply.
Head to the Gabba for another training session where most of us were lathered in sweat and ready for a change of clothes. And we'd only just done the warm-up. Managed to drop my new splint for my thumb, which I had only just had made up yesterday, down the grate on the Gabba. 10 minutes, one crowbar and a couple of burly men later, I get my splint back. Sorry about that.
Another quiet night for everyone, with Mel and I heading to my parent's house for a roast lamb and pavlova. Sensational!!
TEST DAY 4 - Friday 14th February 2003 - Valentine's Day
To the astonishment of the team, no one received any flowers today. And if they did they were smart enough not to tell anyone.
Due to a change in tour party we have decided we need a new cd. All songs were due in by 8.30 so that we could have the cd test run at practice before the beginning of the Test. 8.30 for all except one Karen Rolton and all support staff.
Michelle Goszko, after injuring her little finger yesterday in training, is trying to compete with me with how many splints you can wear on one hand and how much strapping tape is required.
Launch of the Women's Ashes Series today at the Gabba. Function was hosted by Peter Meares who insisted on reminding the poms of which sports and how many times we have beaten them in the past 10 years. As much as we like to reminisce about Australia's fortunes over the Old Dart, it got a little out of hand. When Charlotte Edwards and Clare Taylor got up and starting doing Balmy Army songs we knew things had gotten completely out of hand. Normality was restored with the announcement of Most Valuable Player - Karen Rolton and Most Promising Player - Kris Britt.
Highlight of the lunch was the Player profiles that popped up every 5 minutes on various screens around the room. Apparently Belinda Clark is a right hand bat, right arm medium bowler and right arm offspinner. From memory I recall John Harmer telling Belinda never to bowl in a game again she was that bad.
Quiet afternoon and then an early night after Mel and I stupidly go out for dinner on Valentine's evening and are mistaken not once but 3 times for a couple.
TEST DAY 5 - Saturday 15th February 2003 - First Test Day 1
A reasonable crowd at the Gabba today to see Australia put in a solid performance to restrict England to 128 from 109 overs. Lisa Sthalekar, Emma Twining and Alex Blackwell all contributed well in their first Test Match for Australia and good to see that they wore their baggy greens for the majority of the day.
In the 600 or so people that turned up for game on Saturday, the players parents all seemed to congregate in one area to lend support to our players on a long and slow day. Other members of the crowd included a lot of the Queensland Fire members, junior cricketers from all over Brisbane and even Warwick and a man who seems to be a foghorn trapped in a man's body. On first hearing this distinctive and quite disturbing noise coming from this man we were concerned whether it was someone being violently ill or they fact that we were going to be run down by Fairstar's Sea Princess. It was in fact deciphered as a form of encouragement, fortunately.
Quiet night again for everyone due to a long hot day in the field. Mel and I head out (as two single girls) to a mate's house where I somehow manage to dislocate my thumb lifting a bottle of wine. Sorry Gozzy. That's another one for me.
TEST DAY 6 - Sunday 16th February 2003 - 1st Test Day 2
Since our travels in New Zealand, the team has been experiencing a bug that has been slowly making it's way through the team. This morning Dave Moore (our new assistant coach), Mel Jones and Alex Blackwell all come down, in varying degrees, with the dreaded lurgy. Dave, so sick that he only saw the bottom of a garbage bin for most of the day, and Mel so sick she managed to top score for us with 22.
Our batting today can really only be described as appalling. We still seem to be one-day mode with a lot of batsmen playing shots to balls that didn't really need to be played at. Live and learn. Fortunately we bowled and fielded really well again and restricted England to 8/87 and are keen to get back out there tomorrow and show Brisbane what we can do with the bat.
England seem to be fairly happy with their performances to date and haven't been shy to let us know about it. One of the English players was seen performing a double fist pump to a couple of poms in the crowd after dismissing us for 79 (does she know there are another 2 days to go) and one of the English bowlers had a few words of wisdom (possibly Shakespeare) after a couple of dismissals. Makes for an interesting test.
Not only do we have to put up with the on-field discussions but we have now imposed a parent ban due to most parents believing honesty is the best policy. This may be true in some cases but not when we are down on 1st innings to England and would prefer a little bit of paternal support. Comments like "What do you think you were doing?", "You did drop two catches today" (two diving catches mind you), and "Oh so you are inventing ways of getting out now" were all noted and will be filed away for a time when they are at their lowest and we can get them back.
TEST DAY 7 - Monday 17th February 2003 1st Test Day 3
Morning off to a positive start with us driving off to the ground with the luggage van left open and us nearly losing half of our gear. Only an hour and a half later we turned our morning around by dismissing England for only an extra 4 or 5 runs. After witnessing the catch of the series by a diving Lisa Sthalekar at backward square, we were back on track and ready to chase down 139 as soon as we could. In chasing down the total Belinda Clark became the game's highest test run scorer with 867 runs. After a slight hiccup in the middle of the innings, Alex and Jules guided us home for a 5 wicket victory. Fitz was named player of the match returning figures of 8/60 from 41 overs.
After the game we headed for our warm-down at the Brisbane Grammar pool, the pool which seems to have become Rolly's nemesis. Last time we were in Brisbane Rolts was injured with a volleyball to the head and this time a freak accident with one of the schoolboys flinging a kickboard which managed to travel across 6 lanes, miss me who was standing next to kakka and then crack Rolly in the eye.
An evening down at the Story Bridge hotel where we met up with John Harmer (English Coach), Jane Powell (English Assistant Coach) and the Umpires. The Umpires also invited a couple of their mates which happened to also be umpires. Do umpires have friends outside of umpiring circles.? The night was a good one with a lot of 80's music and Peter Allen being the hit of the night. After explaining to Alex who Peter Allen was everyone got into the spirit of the night and a bit of dancing. Especially Betty Ross who really got stuck into the cheer and insisted on the jukebox playing a bit of ACDC so she could do this slide on her knees while playing a bit of air guitar. Night finished earlier for some with some of us heading off for a bit more dancing (& romancing for some). Will be an interesting morning.
TEST DAY 8 - Tuesday 18th February 2003-02-22
A 9 o'clock start for a surf down the Gold Coast. That is everyone except Betty Ross who hadn't surfaced. Rest of us had a good day down the coast with Emma Twining and Melanie Jones having a crash course in surfing on my mini-malibu. Crash seems to be the appropriate word with Mel falling off and then standing up to reveal her right breast to a group of teenage girls and then Emma falling off and ending up with a tog necklace.
The bears (Gozzy, Rolts and Steve) did come for a short paddle but retreated to the safety of the beach for a laze and to ponder what time we'd be eating next. We were, at one stage, going to shoo this big hairy man away that was annoying Gozzy and Rolts, until we realised it was actually Steve.
All head back a bit sunburnt for 2 o'clock physio treatments when it realised that Betty Ross is struggling to treat herself let alone any of us.
Afternoon meeting to announce that there has been a change to the Test side and Gozzy will be leaving us and Mel Bulow will be returning. We are also told who our new roommates will be which prompts the question from Al "Are we sharing rooms this time?" Yes that would be why they are called a roommate. Rolts when told she will be rooming with Melanie then asks "Which Melanie?". Other than Melanie Jones not sure how many other Melanie's there are in the team. We are also told that Alex's identical twin Kate will be the 13th man. We may be requiring assistance in working out which one is which. Lisa Ross leaves the safety of her bedroom for the team meeting only to be sledged and then slap Julie Hayes on a very sunburnt back.
TEST DAY 9 - Wednesday 19th February 2003
Travel day down to Sydney so a bit of a sleep-in for all. Plane trip down to Sydney uneventful except for the fact that I forgot I was on a plane and attempted to put my seatbelt on like I was in the front seat of a car.
Stephanie Beltrame from the ACB who has been travelling with the team since the start of the Test Series, and who slowly has worked her way into our heads, has thrown a spanner in the works by suggesting that the Seaver family in fact had four children, Mike, Carol, Ben and Chrissy. Naturally we all went to our 80's sitcom expert, Emma Twining, who was dumbfounded, shocked in fact that she may have overlooked Chrissy. On further investigation we discover that Chrissy was in fact in the show but not until the 7th Series. It was also discovered that Leonardo diCaprio was cast as Mike's best mate and that Matthew Perry was Carol's boyfriend who died tragically. Or maybe they just killed him off when they realised how bad at acting he was.
Arrive in Bankstown to head down to the Pokies area downstairs at the Sport Club and be approached immediately by two interesting looking blokes. Stupidly, when asked where Mel and I are from, we reply with Sweden. Mel is Helga and I am Inga. Coincidentally enough this bloke happens to have an uncle living in Sweden and is going to visit him later in the year. Mel then asks him in her best Swedish accent "Var". He says "What" and Mel replies in her best Australian accent "Where?" We escape to dinner and get a case of the guilts, 1. because we thought we might get stabbed if we see them again and they realise we are actually Australian, and 2. because deep down we are really nice girls who don't like to cause any trouble. We head back after dinner, find them, apologise and then play pool with them for another hour. On pulling out his wallet which had a wad of $50 notes (which we have since estimated at between $6000 and $10000) we thought it might be time to leave.
Evening in with Survivor and repeats of Something Stupid. Not sure which was funnier. The Swimsuit Model in Survivor thinking that boiling her underwear on the second day was more important than building a shelter or Magda Szubanski being an historian portraying the life of a single island princess.
TEST DAY 10 - Thursday 20th February 2003
Mid-morning stretch followed by a trip to Bankstown Square. Had to take the bus for safety reasons as Therese McGregor recalls stories of her childhood growing up in Bankstown involving muggings, suicides and stabbings.
Training in the afternoon on a seaming deck followed by Steve barking at us in a fielding session for the next 40 minutes. Not much different to usual come to think of it.
Function at the English Consulate where some enjoyed the hospitality more than others. One exciting moment did occur when a young visitor requested to meet me as he was also a wicketkeeper. Always keen to meet my many fans, Courtney came over with his mother and introduced himself. We then started talking to his mother who turned out to be Jacelyn Hall from the World Music Show on Triple J. As promised I have said I would give her latest cd a plug "Beats 'n' Bliss" from EMI. It's a cracker. Courtney was soon shoved out of the photos as Mel and I vied for the best photos with Jacelyn.
A close call at the Consulate when Karen Rolton was nearly arrested for theft when found wandering the consulate's kitchen in search of someone called Wolf. Wolf Blass.
Manage to convince most on our bus on our way home from the consulate to home job hair colours. Rolts has agreed to a blonde number . Can't wait for tomorrow.
TEST DAY 11 - Friday 21st February 2003
Inclement weather saw us negotiating our way to the SCG from Bankstown with many mid-road consultations on which way was the fastest. After a 2 hour session at the SCG we head to the pool for a warm-down. No problems here until we get out of the pool and head back to the changerooms where Rolly slips at the top of the stairs on a puddle. Not only did Rolts nearly kill herself but attempted to drag me down with her in order to cushion her fall.
Team dinner at Sports Club where we are all presented with a lovely showbag full of surprises from Aussie at Murdoch Publishing. Thank you again Aussie on top of the makeup you gave us in the First Test. We are all campaigning for a Third Test to see how much more free stuff we can get.
Half the team head downstairs to the bar to watch the rugby, half head to Room 319 for a hairstyling session. Super blonde, Copper blonde and violet were the three selected colours available for the evening. I would say there were some pretty happy customers leaving the salon that evening. We even ventured into haircutting with Alex Blackwell booking in for next month up in Brisbane. In fact it was a bit of a tag team with Mel, Em and myself all having a bit of a chop. Looking into waxing and eye lash tinting next. Only one customer wasn't completely satisfied with her dying job purely because she was a first timer in the salon. I personally think Mel Bulow looks great in the new super blonde and the fact that she was running around saying that she was going to lose her job and scare small children was purely a cover-up for the fact that she loved her new look. We are pushing for a change in haircut as well. Rolts was the disappointment for the evening after promising to go blonde refused to go anywhere near the salon for fear of being held down. And don't say that our Salon isn't classy. When asked if we needed one or two satchets of blonde in the bottle, Britty has yelled out "just one sashet".
TEST DAY 12 - Saturday 22nd February 2003 2nd Test Day 1
Morning off sitting around and doing not much as we wait for the ground to dry and the rain stop falling. We finally make it out onto the field at around 1.45pm for the National Anthems. This is the second time we have heard the National Anthem and both times Lucy Pearson seems to be the dominant voice in the English team. She really loves to belt it out. The only problem is that Lucy tends to sing the Anthem a bit too fast. And that's not a problem that is normally associated with Lucy.
Mel Bulow is 12th for this Test and Britty is making her debut as an opener.
During our rained off periods, a few hundred kids turned up for the luncheon break to play a bit of cricket. All of them were keen to grab autographs and all headed to the respective players. Kids who wanted Fitzy's autograph asked me, Mel Bulow or Emma, kids who wanted Mel Jones' autograph asked Lisa Keightley (strange but true) and people who wanted my autograph went up to Julie Hayes.
Before the game started, Melanie Jones realised that she had left her baggy green back at the hotel. In order to save a trip back, Claire has tried to palm another baggy green off to Mel. No, I think you might be missing the point there Claire.
Quiet evening for some in front of the rugby while others went down to Showroom to witness Abba Dabba Do, a girl only section of Abba. Great laughs had by all as the girls from Abba attempted to stumble their way through an even less convincing Swedish accent than mine or Mels.
TEST DAY 13 - Sunday 23rd February 2003 - 2nd Test Day 2
Awoke to another morning of showers and trudged down to breakfast knowing that the day was going to be a long one. This was then tripled upon seeing Steve and realizing he was incredibly grumpy. He had already got up Rolly for not coming and viewing her batting the night before, got up me for leaving the computer down at Bankstown with all of our equipment in a supposedly secure area, and got up Dave for waking him up when he came in last night and then snoring half the night. Note: Avoid Steve if possible.
To pass some of the time we set up a DVD viewing area in the dressing room of Kath and Kim. This passed a couple of hours for us while we waited patiently until we could resume play. Others passed the time by talking to parents and friends, checking on emails or playing cards. Mel Jones and I decided to chat to the Blackwells and see if we could work out the origins of sayings such as "kick the bucket", "On your goat", "Hair of the Dog" and "Cat got your tongue". It seemed however, that any explanation we came up with was soon cut down by Mr Blackwell who claimed our interpretation was ridiculous or we had just made it up. Killed a couple of hours anyway.
After confiding in me yesterday, it has now become public knowledge that Lisa Ross has again fallen victim to the old 'put the massage oil in the water bottle trick'. As some of you may remember Betty drank her massage oil last year thinking it was ginger beer. It seems Betty is making the same mistakes a few times this trip.
When we finally got on to the field, the English batted solidly up until stumps when Fitz bowled a super spell of bowling to restrict the English to 4/151. One of the new young players for England, in trying to get away from the ball but at the same time pulling it, manages to middle one fair into Rolts' grill on her helmet. I think the batsman showed more concern for Rolt's well being as most of us were rolling around laughing at Rolly's limited reaction time.
On leaving the field there was a lot of woo hooing and highfiving happening in the English Dressing Room. I hope the English haven't started celebrating a little early like they did in Brisbane
TEST DAY 14 - Monday 24th February 2003 - 2nd Test Day 3
Fine weather for a change, which also brought about a batting collapse from England losing 6/36 that morning and ending up with a 53 run 1st innings lead. Unfortunately we couldn't capitalize on it and lost 4 early wickets leaving us 4/49 and with Lisa Sthalekar and Alex Blackwell trying to steady the ship for us. If only they'd been around in the days of the Titanic, it may never have sunk. Lisa and Alex both ran brilliantly between the wickets and were both rewarded with unbeaten half century's at the conclusion of the days play having us 106 in front for only the loss of 4 wickets.
Due to this marvelous partnership it allowed us to ensure that we would be able to enjoy tea on the fourth day. We have been spoilt everyday with Lamington fingers, scones, pikelets, Boston bun and chocolate rollettes. Go the Boombas.
Due to the latest hairstyling session, we have the misfortune of everyone outside cricket circles thinking that anyone with short blonde hair must be Fitzy. Two of Claire's friends turned up for today's game and were watching when Fitz and Em were opening the bowling for us. As much as we would like to dispute that Emma looks anything like Fitz, these two friends thought it odd that Fitz would be bowling from both ends in a cricket game. It could have been worse however. They could have thought she was keeping as well.
On getting back to our room, Britty and I both walk in and discover this horrific smell of sewerage in our room. Not being one to point out something as sensitive as that as I thought Britty must have snuck home before me and vice versa, neither of us mentioned it to the other until later that evening when we both tried to blame the other for the smell. It was even getting to the stage where people could smell it out in the hallway as they walked passed our room. The worse thing about it was that the longer you were in the room, the more you got used to it and then completely forgot about it until someone would walk passed and start dry-reaching.
Team meeting in which a skit is put on by Lisa Ross, Sally Bailey and Claire Connelly to in fact take the mickey out of Lisa S and Alex. Claire stole (she insists she just borrowed it without asking permission) Mandi Godliman's English tracksuit top (what will she wear now as she obviously has forgotten to bring any everyday clothes), and pretended to be Michael Parkinson who interviewed Shaker (Lisa R) and Alex (Sally B). Lisa Ross did a fantastic impersonation of Shakes by sitting on Bails all the time and trying to massage everybody in the room, where Bails did her best to talk slow in that Blackwell manner. The funny thing was that it took Sthalekar about 3 minutes to work out what Rossy was doing and then Alex turns to Mel and asks her if Bails is intentionally trying to speak slow. Good work girls. Trivia results with Emma Twining and I finishing on 66and a half points and Mel Jones on 66.
TEST DAY 15 - Tuesday 25th February 2003 - 2nd Test 4th Day
Resuming play with 6 wickets in hand and a hundred and six run lead, the rain that the English had boldly stated the previous evening "we would be praying for" didn't come and we witnessed a fine batting display by Lisa Sthalekar who went on to make her maiden Test hundred. I contributed a useful 6 not out only to have Belinda declare on me as I was on my way to my maiden Test century as well. This left the English to attempt to get a very getable 206 from a minimum of 76 overs. On a deck that was becoming very flat, England didn't really attempt to ever chase down the overs despite us bowling 85 at them. Final score of 6/140 odd I think which left one very disappointed team and one very happy team. I'll let you work out which team was which. And if anyone out there can work out why there was one happy team I would be much indebted if you could contact me and explain it to me.
During the lunch break I decided to slip on a bit of The Pointer Sisters to see the reaction I would get in the Dressing Room. To my disappointment no one seemed to notice it after passing through such hits as "I'm so excited" and "Automatic". It was only when "Neutron Dance" came on that Lisa S popped up and said "Who the hell are we listening to?". "Who are we listening to" I think to myself. "These are your early Destiny's Child Shaker". Mel Jones then pipes in with a "TLC wouldn't have been around if it hadn't been for these birds". With that Mel and I leave the dressing room only to realize that we hadn't actually explained who we were listening. I don't even think Lisa noticed however, as she had just collapsed into a heap in the corner on hearing of our declaration, after a match-winning 120 not out. Great work Shakes
After the game a short presentation of the Ashes was made to us despite the best efforts of Belinda's 2 year old nephew who flew around in circles in front of the presenter and then fell down in a giggly heap.
Evening and tour finished with a very casual final dinner where we actually mingled and (can I say it) enjoyed the English girls company. Needless to say a late one but obviously not late enough as I still was able to smell the stench in our room on my return.
Despite not being a really long tour, it has been a very busy tour with 7 one-dayers followed by the two tests. This Test we have seen a lot of potential in our debutants, some of our less newer players warm to their roles in the Australian Team, the senior players guide and encourage the entire team, and watch our support staff make fools of themselves on the evenings off. Australian preparations are well underway for ensuring that the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars are successful now and in the near future. Good tour girls and talk to you all soon.
