The Ashes - 1st Test: The Gabba

Our first day of cricket of the 2010 - 11 Ashes series was Day 3 at 'The Gabba' in Brisbane. This was Meg's first taste of live cricket and having already bought flights and match tickets for each of the following 4 cricket tests in Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney, Mark was praying for an exciting introduction!



Unfortunately things didn't quite go to plan. As a local newspaper explained: "Mike Hussey (195) and Brad Haddin (136) crushed The Poms' spirits with a record partnership of 307 as Australia dominated day three of the first Ashes Test at the Gabba." The middle order pair batted together for six-and-a-half-hours which was quite demoralising for England fans and not the best introduction to cricket for Meg.

Depsite this, there were a few highlights during the day. Mark bears an uncanny resemblance to England cricketer Paul Collingwood. First, a few Australian fans started shouting "Collo" at Mark. Then Collingwood came over to our stand to sign a few kids' autographs and Mark decided to go down and confront his doppelganger. Meg took the photo below. Mark told Collingwood "my wife says I look like you", to which he received the response: "that's unfortunate!"

A few minutes after this exchange, the Australian batting partnership was finally broken by a spectacular catch by Paul Collingwood. Whether he was inspired by seeing his twin is yet to be confirmed.

Following Collingwood's catch, England quickly killed off the last of the Aussie batsmen and ended the day by going out to chase down the 220 run deficit. And with tickets for Day 4 available at $27 we decided to come back the next day and watch England bat.

We were not disappointed, being treated to some record-breaking English batting. We were also fully prepared for our next day of cricket with radio, newspapers and a picnic hamper which certainly made for a rather civilised day! We were rewarded by seeing England score over 300 runs for a loss of just one wicket

The next day we set off on our journey to Alice Springs for a 3 day tour of Uluru. The match at The Gabba ended in a draw which was a great result for England. The second test would be taking place in Adelaide - our destination after Alice Springs ...