Monday, February 02, 2009

ODI At The WACA - Australia vs New Zealand

Picked up a free ticket in a corporate box in the Prindiville Stand at the WACA for yesterday's one day international match between Australia and New Zealand. The view from the fifth level was fabulous. And so was the breeze. Especially as it was 35.8 degrees and the humidity was up there. We were half expecting a thunderstorm.

The Aussies batted first in the 50 overs-a-side match and they were fairly poor in their shot selection and running between wickets. At the moment they are a bit of a rabble and it showed. The Kiwis bowled and fielded with great discipline finally bowling the Aussies out for a paltry 181 runs. Considering that two nights before Australia had taken on the South Africans (288) at the WACA and made 249 it wasn't a great effort.

The Kiwis didn't bat any faster and made hard work of it but you always had the feeling that they were in control. And so it turned out to be. Requiring only a single off the last ball to win the match they scored a boundary. Still, it was a close match and a great day out. The cricket was a bit pedestrian though.

Gate No. 7 entrance at the WACA.

Australia and New Zealand line up for the national anthems.

The WACA is quite a picturesque ground.

Nathan Bracken bowling - he looks a bit bent out of shape.

Beer cup snake attempt. The match before they managed to encircle the ground with beer cups. This was about their best effort.

Guys on the upper level were getting a bit bored so attempted their own beer cup snake.

The lights are in full effect at the WACA.

The Dancing Kiwi.




In the video you see Daniel Vettori, the NZ captain, score the winning runs and celebrate. A guy near me, obviously an overjoyed Kiwi who'd placed a bet about winning approximately an hour and a half before the conclusion of the match, gave us his version of The Dancing Kiwi.

3 comments:

Joe said...

It was 35 degrees here, too!

Oh..wait. You mean Celsius, don't you?

Anonymous said...

WOW Annette

Anonymous said...

Boy that makes me homesick. Can't even watch the cricket on TV here, let alone live at the ground :( Love the WACA.