The Ashes - 3rd Test: The WACA

From Adelaide we flew 2000km to Perth and touched down in the last of the eight Australian states / territories. We were beginning to get an appreciation of the vast size of this country having covered some huge distances to pass through them all (Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Tasmania, Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia).

The third test of the Ashes series was taking place at the WACA (Western Australian Cricket Association) ground and with England 1-0 ahead and the Australian team in apparent disarray we were confident of another victory.

We attended Day 1 with Mark's friend, Richard, who had travelled out from England for the Perth and Melbourne tests. We travelled to the sold-out venue without tickets and were fortunate to obtain great seats in the Inverarity Stand for their original cover price.

As with the Adelaide Oval, the WACA ground has a manually-operated scoreboard which gives the ground good character. England had a great morning and had taken 4 wickets by lunch. They made slower work of the Australian tail but managed to bowl them all out for 280 runs with 15 overs of the day remaining. England's opening batsmen then came in and managed to survive until the close of play for 30 runs.

The next day we headed to Fremantle on a pilgrimmage to the Little Creatures brewery. Having finally discovered an Aussie beer which actually has some flavour we thought we ought to pay them a visit and show our gratitude! Unfortunately, with one ear glued to our portable radio we were disappointed to hear that the England cricket team were falling apart without our support.

While in Perth we stayed with Mark's cousin David, his wife Abby and their two daughters Jasmine and Bethany. On Saturday we went for lunch and somehow found ourselves in an English-style pub watching cricket. Unfortunately the England collapse continued, which was even more frustrating as we all had tickets for the fourth day of the test.

Day 4 turned out to be a disaster for England and within 45 minutes of the start of play it was already over, with Australia winning the test and levelling the series at 1-1.

Next stop Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test at the imposing MCG.