On yer bike, Poms!

Many memories came back to me as I diverted on my bike-ride home tonight to drop in - for free after 5pm - for the closing moments of the second Ashes Test match at Adelaide Oval. Gone are the concrete terraces of my childhood, but still there I sat on the plastic chairs, in front of the stands, that have covered them. The Hill remains the same and the boorish, sunburnt, drunken patrons are still there. One invited me to solve my bike storage problems by storing it in my colon. I invited him to try. He left me alone.

So I sat down to watch the finalisation of the English discombobulation and desolation as first Ponting, Hussey and Clarke chased down the total after the English capitulation in the second innnings for 129. Hussey's innings was faultless and Clarke sensible as Hayden and Martyn had a blood-rush unnecessarily chasing the total down.

Memories came back:

• of sitting on those terraces as a kid, listening to the same Barmy Army chants, holding up my banner "Poms Away" or
• seeing Mark Waugh score his maiden test ton in his first Test innings, his selection at the expense of his brother;
• in later life running in front of the Hill on day wth a banner saying "Give Boony a Bowl" as we watched day 5 of Boony's last test match in Australia, as the match petered out to a draw; and
• watching May and McDermott almost chase down the West Indies' total in the final innings, only for McDermott to illegitimately be deemed caught out off his helmet to give the West Indies the win and with it all hope of the Frank Worrell Trophy.

It was nice to bump into cousin Kerran there too and watch the closing overs with him as well. One of the great things about Adelaide - its just big enough to be a city with a lot of the amenities of bigger cities, but small enough to bump into people you know like you do in the country.

The poor English wilted in the heat this time around, same as always. I'm glad I went and now the Ashes are as good as back in the bag with a 2-0 series lead after 2 tests.