Day 41 - England Toil in Brisbane Heat

​I hadn’t quite shaken my headache this morning, so had a very quiet one (not doing parkrun was sensible, I think). I had a lie-in, generally pottered around the hotel, and stopped for a light lunch on my way to catch the bus to the ground.

Today was the hottest day so far, but there was optimism in the air. Everyone enjoyed the epic effort that a group had made with Star Wars costumes. Literally hundreds of storm troopers, as well as seemingly most other characters! Their trumpeter playing the Imperial March when Darth Vader arrived was particularly excellent.

The first hour of the cricket was also kind of positive. England took a couple of wickets, and Australia were still in sight. The wheels firmly came off before the first interval though, and then continued to roll off down the hill afterwards. England looked absolutely clueless, to be blunt, and Australia passed 500. At least there were some dubious records to do with highest team scores without an individual score above 80.

There was at least a glimmer of hope when Duckett and Crawley had England 45-0 at the second interval. I got a cup of tea and cookie and was quite content. Maybe the pitch didn’t have any demons in it…..

Alas, the final session was an absolute ‘mare. The Aussies bowled well - both Duckett and Brook were out to good deliveries - but the others just could not put the drive away.

At one point it looked as though England would not even see through the day. I guess the silver lining is that there will at least be a day four. Oh, and that some BIG issues were decided by the crowd.

I am writing this from the bus on the way back to the city centre (I got a seat today  - yay!) - I think I need the walk up the hill to get over the disappointment. Barring a miracle, England will be 2-0 down by this time tomorrow.