Women's Cricket in Australia - Playing the Game
Women's Cricket in Australia - Playing the Game
Julia's 2000 World Cup Diary...Day 9-19
(read days 1-8...?..then have a look...)
Day 9 – 1st December 2000
I write to you tonight in a melancholy mood due to my shocker today behind the stumps. At present there is a cold going through the team, and I am even struggling to catch that at the moment. What could only be described as an assist on my behalf, was my attempt at a catch from Fitzy. I have somehow managed to knock it into Lisa Keightley’s already outstretched appealing hand for the dismissal. And Mark Taylor thought his juggling catch was good. After Two-Hits Rolton smashed 151 not out off about half that number of balls, the Sri Lankans were sent in to bat. To make our fielding a little more challenging, one of their openers proceeded to leave us small surprises in key fielding positions. We are hoping her cold clears up soon.
We have been fortunate (or unfortunate depending on who you speak to) enough to have Billy Bowden umpiring our last two games. The larrikin of umpiring, Billy has kept us amused with his CRAZY antics of rubbing his leg when there is a leg-bye, showing us some fancy footwork to some of his favourite tunes being played, and cracking a few jokes at our expense. I have however been studying his style of umpiring (probably why I’m missing catches), and have decided most of his signals do somehow represent domestic chores. Let me give you an example for those of you who have seen him in action. A four is very similar to wiping the breakfast crumbs off the table in the morning, a six is unbelievably close to hanging out the washing especially if the dog is biting your heels at the same time and a bye (which I have fortunately only witnessed once), cleaning the windows. This should be noted next time you see Billy umpiring. I’m thinking he has a pretty tidy house.
I must say that the morning got off to a slow start as someone had used the team bus but no one can remember who was the last and thus – no keys. Eveyone has then crammed into two buses, gear and all, and headed off to the game. Not before having to do a U-turn as Cathy has led us down a dead-end path in the carpark. So then we are off and have to wait 5 minutes to find out where Steve has gone as we have now lost him while we were doing our 3 point turn. We eventually catch up with him after he has completed about 30 revolutions of the roundabout. It is not long after this that Steve takes over leading us as Cathy can’t remember how to get to the ground. Just to add to all the excitement of heading out to the ground, Shorty decides to knock herself out while attempting to jump into the bus. Fortunately for Shorty the amount of bleach in her hair has immediately acted as a disinfectant and no tetanus injection was required.
Day off tomorrow
DAY 10 – 2nd December 2000
Today was our first full day off. Most people took advantage of the day off by heading into town and having a day of shopping and taking advantage of the 50% sale at Kathmandu. Naturally our saving queen, Olivia Magno went crazy at the shop and bought more than anyone else.
On our trip into town many posters were stripped of the walls of the buildings, mostly ones of our game vs NZ. Avril Fahey, along with Erica Sainsbury were the main culprits. Avril has built a shrine in her room to Women’s Cricket and these posters fit perfectly.
On our return to Lincoln we were lucky enough to witness South Africa win over England. South Africa were only chasing 165 and managed to pass it with a few overs to spare. One of South Africa’s new players managed to score a 50 not out which secured them the 4 points. We took careful note of what was going on and will think about his win going into our game against the South Africans.
Over the past few weeks I have regretfully left out the movements of our Super Coach, John Harmer and Assistant Coach Steve Jenkin. The two of them have developed such a bond between them that when we were staying in Dunedin recently John decided to have sleep overs at Steve’s house, to the extent that they decided to let someone else stay in John’s room. The two are inseparable and we’ve even noticed one get a little testy when the other won’t do what the other wants them to do. John is getting married in February and this should be reported back to Marg.
Early night
DAY 11 – 3rd December 2000
A fairly uneventful day. We played Ireland who won the toss and elected to bat. We managed to dismiss them for 90 and passed that total for the loss of no wicket in the 20th over.
We did however foolishly invite the Irish out for a barbie at the university and then down to the local Irish Pub for a night out. The night was then taken over by the Irish who naturally knew every Irish and Non-Irish song ever written. Australia were badly beaten in the singing stakes but fortunately we are not competing in the Singing World Cup. A great night had with the Irish as our feeble attempts at singing songs back failed. Whenever a country can sing in another language, it never fails to impress an Aussie.
The them song of "Who let the Irish out" was well and truly used throughout the night although we were more than happy to try and use the original of "Who let the Dogs out". The Irish however do not seem to fit into this category and we all enjoyed there company and had a ball.
One of the many highlights of the night, other than Saibh Young’s Shirley Bassey’s Goldfinger, was the young girls who did the Irish dancing. A lot of the girls in the Aussie team hadn’t seen a lot of Irish dancing in their time so it was good fun. The best was when I asked Lisa Ross "What are you drinking?" and she replied "Yeah, I can tap dance!". I’d like to see that!
Off early in the morning for a swim with the dolphins at Akaroa, a small fishing village, originally founded by the french.
Day 12 – 4th December 2000
A knock at the door at 8.10am was a quick reminder that 1. I had slept in and 2. I had an interview to do. I apologise for the condition of my voice to all of the listeners in Christchurch but I’m afraid the night before did take a toll on me vocally. Not generally the biggest singer in the team, I happily tried to belt out a few songs to cease the Irish taunts at us. I doubt if I made it any better, in fact probably gave them more material to use against us.
Around 9.30am Lisa Ross, our liaison Cath Brady, Avril, Fitz, Bill, Sally Bailey, Janine and I all headed down to Akaroa for our day off. The drive was quite a windy one with Avril Fahey attempting to see how close she could get to the posts on the side of the road. Naturally she didn’t mean to get this close, and I for one can vouch that it is harder to judge a bus of this side and its turning circle, due to me crashing the bus here in New Zealand 3 years ago. Akaroa was originally settled by the French who didn’t realise that Christchurch, a far more sheltered area was only about 80km away. The English founded Christchurch and have been here since.
Enough of the history lesson. The day was a perfect one as we all trekked into the "Dolphin Experience". Our wetsuits were provided with the trip and after everyone had noted how tight mine was around my hips and arse and loose around my chest we headed off. It only took about 15 minutes to find the dolphins in the harbour. These dolphins are only about 1.5m long and weigh around 40kg. They are known as Hector’s Dolphins and are an endangered species. Once in the arctic-like waters it was up to us to entertain the dolphins, not the other way around we were told. Any sort of noise you could make would keep the dolphins interested for a while. As you are doing this with your head under the water, the sound through your snorkel keeps the trip organisers very amused. Sally Bailey and her Coo, Coo, Coo Cooing, Fitzy and her cock-a-doodle-dooing and me doing my best flipper impersonation must have been doing something right as we were circled and played with for the best part of half and hour. A fantastic experience that none of us will forget.
The rest of the group pretty much either stayed in Lincoln or headed into Christchurch to do some shopping. India beat England in a tough match today, which sees England struggling to make the semis unless they beat us and NZ in the next couple of rounds.
Another rest day tomorrow with a light training session in the morning and possibly out to help barrack for the Irish v Sri Lanka
Day 13 – 5th December 2000
This morning started with a team stretch with Sally at 9am. As much as I hate stretching, I always feel better after these stretches as everything is supervised and you can’t get out of it. About ¾ hour later we all headed over to the "New Zealand High Performance Centre" or as we say in Australia the indoor nets. A good hard session was had by all with a rotational session being decided on. While some were bowling and batting others were doing catches off the slips cradle and the "Crazy Catch". The "Crazy Catch" isn’t quite as crazy as it’s name may insinuate. Basically it is a rebound net that has two layers of netting which makes the ball bounce off in different directions. Talk about CRAZY!
We all had this afternoon off and it was spent in various ways by the girls. A few of the girls went to watch and support Ireland who were playing Sri Lanka in a game that turned out to be quite close. Ireland should have won it fairly easily but seemed to panic after a bit of a slow start chasing 129. In a game that ended up resembling tipsy run, Ireland fell 10 short with 5 run outs. Sri Lanka a mere 4 run outs.
Bill, Fitz, Avy and I all chose a quieter afternoon sipping wine in a couple of the local wineries. Beautiful backdrops to the wineries made the afternoon a pleasant one as well as a couple of well placed jokes here and there involving our wine trup. Eg. How’s the weather? A: It’s a but windy? Windy who? Etc etc. Hours of amusement. The funniest moment was however the other night when out with the Irish and we were trying to sing Waltzing Matilda when the kiwi bloke on the guitar starting singing "Up jumped a jimbuck". All chances of the song finishing were highly unlikely after that.
This evening Olivia, Lisa and myself all headed off to the function that I was volunteered for when not present. I was sporting a very good look of corduroy indentations in my face from my recent massage. No one else seems to have problems with the headrest. Anyway I tried to pass them off as traditional Australian markings but no one seemed to believe me. Speaking of markings Julie Hayes is sporting a lovely mark on her forehead after somehow managing to walk into a lamp post last night on the way home from dinner. And not your everyday lamp post either. It was one of those ones with the ridges in it. Back to the function. We’ve all been in those situations when you are talking to someone and they crack a joke and it’s not funny, (it’s usually my joke), well while at the function we all were talking to one of the councillors and he’s cracked the joke and Lisa and I have just smiled, when Olivia lets out this haa,haa sort of laugh. It was a shocker. Both Lisa and I lost it and tried to make light of it. Have another chocolate covered strawberry Liv.
Off to a team meeting now and get mentally prepared for tomorrow’s clash with India.
Day 14 – 6th December 2000 Australia vs India
Today was a big day for the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars. We hadn’t played India since the 1997 World Cup Semi-final and were probably a little lucky to win that due to the fact that India were a little slow getting through their overs and were penalised two overs. Today however we had the power of the plait. It was my first dry plait of the series and it was quite a good one. A little flatter than probably liked but still a good one. This in fact was reflective of our game. After getting off to a good start of scoring 5/225 (Lisa – 70 odd and Rolts 60 odd), we let India get off to a good start to be 60 odd off about 15 overs. This opening partnership was broken just before drinks when Olivia Magno threw down the stumps from midwicket to run out captain Anju Jain. We then tightened our line and managed to cruise home restricting the Indians to 8/174.
At the moment, Lincoln University is also hosting the NZ and Australian Soil Science Society 2000 Conference. I’m not sure how many people would have been in presentations today however as most of them seemed to be at the game giving us some very vocal support. This support was continued off the field when it was discovered that we were having a quiet drink in the bar. A group of about 8 marched in demanding to buy us all drinks, only to renege on the offer about 5 minutes later when we couldn’t convince them that we were actually the Australian team.
It has been brought to my attention that the other day when on our swim with the dolphins, that Cath (our notorious liaison) was clicking and trying to get the attention of the dolphins while on the boat still. She also managed to miss everything that was happening around her, as she was intent to have her head under the water in case one swum under her.
While heading to the Internet café tonight, Charlie and myself came across a small furry animal scurry under some bushes not far ahead of us. After going to investigate we could see most of its body, but no head but it looked approximately the size of a possum. Charlie, using all her knowledge gained from watching National Geographic Channel, has decided that is was a raccoon. Not too sure how many wild raccoons they have running around New Zealand but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe this is the only one and we were just fortunate enough to find it. I’m hoping to come across a Grizzly Bear tomorrow night. After explaining to Charlie that it was highly unlikely that it would be a raccoon, Charlie immediately started pleading with me not to put it in the diary. She explained how I knew how she was geographically challenged and shouldn’t take advantage of her like this. Keep going Chuck; I’m getting some good material here. I’ve decided to hang around with Charlie on slower days because I’m bound to pick up some good stuff for the diary.
Steve, Cherie, Therese and Lou all headed off tonight to go to Methven for the next couple of days. The rest of us are heading up north for Kaikoura and Hanmer Springs. A couple of days off – beautiful.
Day 15 – 7th December 2000
The whale watchers (Bill, Fitz, Avy, Rossy, Janine and myself) set off this morning about 8.30am. Avy had elected herself tour leader and took over the driving duties for the entire trip. It was a nice drive up to Kaikoura all that is except for Avy’s driving. When driving Avril finds it very amusing beeping at sheep in the paddocks as we are driving past to send them running. Maybe the first time it raised a chuckle but after the 14th time it gets a bit tedious.
After about 3 hours of driving we arrived in Kaikoura to check in for our cruise out to see the whales. To our horror we were told that conditions on the sea today were slightly rough. After convincing Belinda not to take the more expensive helicopter ride out to see the whales, we ration out our remaining Dramamine. Janine opted not to have any due to the fact that she doesn’t get seasick, much to the delight of the rest of the group. We now have approximately 2 each if required. We checked in using Gilligan’s Island’s theme song to try and distract ourselves from the inevitable. On check-in, we had two new members in our party – one being Janine Cricket Stainer. The second was Lisa Ross who was mistakenly put down as C Ross. "My name is actually L C Ross" Check-in Lady "Oh I’m sorry Elsie". A safety video was screened before heading off to the bus to take us to the boat. The Dramamine seems to have kicked in as none of us got sick during the video but we felt a bit ill after the bus ride to the docks. Seeing the boat arrive back with most of the people on it still in one piece, lifted our spirits. As soon as we pulled out from the jetty though, Belinda and I had our 2nd Dramamine. We were then introduced to Mark who was going to entertain us with hilarious anecdotes for the next 3 hours but more importantly help us through any signs of seasickness we might experience. Watch the horizon or some fixed point on land, get plenty of fresh air or push your pressure points on your earlobes or index fingers. After spotting our first whale about 5 minutes into the trip Belinda and I thought we could turn around now before we started to get sick. It was here unfortunately that we went out to deeper sea to find more whales. I’m not sure if Belinda saw anymore whales due to the fact that she wouldn’t take her eyes of the mountains or horizon while continuing to hold both earlobes and breathing so much fresh air in she started to hyperventilate.
Now an entire paragraph must be dedicated to the tour guide Mark as although we couldn’t react at the time, his comments were not forgotten. He started by saying New Zealand was made up of two small islands and one larger one to the west – Australia!!! Wipe those tears away and hang on because you are in for a hell ride from here – yes it gets better. He also suggested we could go shark diving – all you had to do was get a wetsuit on and tie big slabs of meat to it and jump in – No Just joking!! Oh he nearly had us going there. Every hilarious joke was followed up with the obligatory "Just Joking" as if we couldn’t tell. His use of the English language however was the most entertaining part of the trip. "Now Ladies and Gentlemens" was a personal favourite. He referred, on numerous times, to ewes. It took about 4 times for me to pick up that he was actually referring to us and not female sheep. A speech impediment or a Freudian slip - who knows?
We arrive at Hanmer Springs after attempting to sleep through Avril’s poor driving and continuous beeping at sheep and catch up with the other bus at around 7pm. We were in for a bit of a treat tonight as it had been discovered that "The David Cassidy Story" was going to be on TV so all the oldies of the group settled in for a bit of a sing-a-long with Lisa Ross leading the way.
It has been brought to my attention that Karen Rolton was given a drive on the other bus today. Karen cannot drive a manual so the girls thought they would amuse themselves by letting Rolts drive on a straight bit of road. Little did they know they were going to be attacked by a flock of sheep on the 2km that Rolts drove. She informed me she didn’t stall it once but did have a little trouble changing down gears, which had to be done by Lisa Keightley. It was also discovered that Therese McGregor, our clutch salesperson, can’t drive a manual!!!
Drama has unfolded in the small village of Lincoln with 4 bowlers being under investigation for suspect bowling actions. The news had quite a big report on it tonight and we are all glad we are away and not having to deal with any negative publicity.
"Come on world there’s a song that we’re singing – to make you happy" The Partridge Family 1972
Day 16 – 8th December 2000
Everyone had a bit of a sleep-in and then gradually drifted across the road to the thermal pools for a dip. The pools vary in temperature from 40 degrees to 29 degrees and also in style of pool. There are lap pools, rock pools, round pools and sulphur pools. It was fairly obvious the benefits of the other pools, however the sulphur pool wasn’t quite as obvious. Due to the strong smell of egg that is left clinging to your body after a dip in the sulphur pools we have decided the benefits of this pool are a contraceptive one. There were also a couple of waterslides at the pools, which proved too much of a temptation for Brogsy and Rockin’. Both came back uninjured however we are not sure about anyone that may have been on the slides at the same time. Being only 17 degrees today meant that not many of us wanted to get out of the pools, but eventually we did and split back into the two buses.
Our bus, with Avy as tour guide once again, stopped at a few wineries on the way home. Due to the fact that I have lost all of my sense of taste and smell (well I still could smell the sulphur pools) I had to rely on everyone else’s opinion of the wine before purchasing.
On arrival back at Lincoln we discover Steve with a bad injured knee due to a whitewater rafting incident. No one else in the team is allowed to go rafting in case they injure themselves however it’s okay for management. We also discover that the missing key to the bus has resurfaced – in the ball bag. John is denying it had anything to do with him. He did privately ask me however if I thought that he would do something like that which I replied in the affirmative.
Just a short note to let Avril know that she can’t get away with anything as I did spot her heading out into the hallway from Chris Matthew’s apartment whilst looking for the toilet.
Early night due to the writer very sick with a flu.
Day 17 – 9th December 2000
Today started with a stretching session at 8.30am. Due to Sally Bailey having to return to Oz for a wedding, Lisa Ross was supposed to take the session. Lisa somehow managed to palm it off and it ended up us having to do some sort of stretch each, that is all except Cherie who couldn’t think of a stretch. Obviously never done a warm-up with us before.
Our stretching session was followed up with a couple of hours in the nets. Before we start our net session we have the compulsory skipping routines. These routines however having been getting more and more complicated as time progresses. Today we had to walk through the ground ladder while tapping or holding a ball on our bat. This then progressed to running and then spinning. I can’t wait to apply all of this in game and bedazzle our opponents. Apparently next session we are actually going to be skipping while hitting a ball on our bat. Forget the Fruit Fly Circus, Go the Fruit Bat Circus!!!
India played New Zealand today in what turned out to be a less than impressive game as NZ won easily in the end when India’s top order collapsed early in their chase of 220. This pretty much keeps the points the same although NZ have one more game up than anyone else.
Tomorrow is us vs England. We haven’t played them in over 9 months so it will be interesting to see if much has changed since last we played them. It will also be Belinda’s 50th game as captain.
Day 18 – 10th December 2000
The ongoing saga of John & Steve has been continuing for the past few weeks. It was discovered the other morning that on waking, one would go and wake the other so that they could start their valuable talking time while in shower cubicles next to each other. It all came to loggerheads this morning however when John decided he couldn’t fit in the toast that Steve had especially made for him. "But I made it especially and it’s a waste. Well that’s the last time I do anything nice for you. You just don’t appreciate it" Quote Steve Unquote.
We played England today in what was to be a do or die game for the Poms. They did have us in a little trouble at 4/50 but Olivia and Zoe steadied the ship and had us at 6/190. 3 wickets a piece to Fitz, Chuck and Avy and Fitz scoring Player of the Match as we dismissed England for around 140. The highlight of the day, was the parents. The parents have formed what they like to call the POPS (Parents of Players). We would call it a gang. They have been heard and spotted giving lip to any teams fielding on their boundary and any support shown from any other spectators is quickly quieted with an "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" from Mrs Keightley followed by an "Oi Oi Oi" from Mr Price. The Broadbents, The Faheys, The Keightleys, Mr Price and the recently initiated McGregors were last seen linking arms and chanting "Anybody in the road gets knocked over".
A very quiet night and an even quieter day off tomorrow. Rolly however is going swimming with the Dolphins at Akaroa. It would nearly be worth it to go again – to Rolts that is.
Day 19 – 11th December 2000
Today was a mixed day with a few laughs, a few fights and then a few more laughs. A few of the fights were continued on from yesterday and me trying to work out what the fight was about in the first place wasn’t helping especially seeing I got two conflicting stories from the parties involved. But the best thing about a fight is the making up and everyone getting along again so when that happens we’ll be laughing.
Grump 1 – Charmaine Mason, Grump 2 – Avril Fahey
A few of the girls went for a swim session with Bails this morning. After quite a good session at the pool the girls decided to treat themselves with a bit of a shop before returning to Lincoln. They unfortunately took longer than expected and on their return found a note for Therese and Lisa that Rossy had waited 45 minutes for them to turn up at their physio appointments and could wait no longer. In Rossy’s defence they could have told her or at least the bus they were on. Grump 3 – Lisa Ross
Dolphin swimming at Akaroa was abandoned this morning due to lack of numbers. Not even Rolts’ pleas with the rest of the team could entice anyone else to go with her. Rolts blames Zoe. Grump 4 – Karen Rolton.
New Zealand played South Africa today and pretty much demolished them beating them by over 100 runs. Emily Drumm batted very well for an unbeaten 100 and sent out a message to all the other countries leading into the semis that they are a team to be reckoned with.
Due to a need to replenish our video supply, Charlie Mason was 2 minutes late for her massage, which allowed Olivia Magno to slip into Charlie’s allotted time. Grump 1 returned and stayed until the rest of us left to go to the movies. Not before Karen Rolton was left behind by the first bus going to the movies. I find Rolts wandering the hallways looking for everyone before slipping back into Grump 4 mode. Rolts has this habit of waiting for people to come and tell her they are leaving or when a meeting is on etc instead of actually going and asking someone. Strange they left without her!!
The second bus going to the movies was driven this time by Steve. With Rolts aboard we headed off to Christchurch but not the normal way. Steve, being a man, must show his knowledge of an area to his girls, by taking the short-cut to Christchurch via Dunedin. Grump 5 – Steve Jenkin. Not learning from his trip into Christchurch Steve brings us back via Mt Cook to Lincoln and cops another hiding. Return of Grump 5.
Cath’s daughter’s birthday was today and a cake was had by all that stayed behind tonight at Lincoln. Happy 1st Birthday Becky!!
To end today’s diary entry it must be noted that all that attended Charlie’s Angels tonight had an absolute ball. A very funny movie that made everyone forget anything that may have been bothering them in the last 24 hours. We may have to make regular trips for therapy if grumpiness continues.
Look forward to a happy day tomorrow. (Well we are all women and we are entitled to spit when and where we like and for no particular reason at all)
Follow Julia to Part 3 of the WC Diary.....
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