A Tale of Things Cricket

Ah, the sound of leather on willow, the heat, the flies, thunder, lightning, a torrential downpour. It must be summer at last!

As many of you will know, John's brother Neil, is a cricket tragic. Now on the north side of 50, he, together with an array of equally, and greater aged tragics, still throw on the the elastic sided flannels, apply liberal amounts of sunscreen and linament, and hit the turf!



The Beautiful Bradman Oval Bowral



The Classic Pose

There was a guy named Bradman who could play the game a bit, and he left quite a legacy. His home town was Bowral NSW, and there is now an oval that bears his name, along with the fantastic Museum, and the Bradman Foundation.

The Foundation has members from all over the world, and from these members are compiled Bradman Foundation Teams who play matches against invited teams, and this year Neil's St. George Old Boys (their own name, not mine!), were invited to play.



Mum, Carol & April at the cricket



The long walk back to the pavilion



So the scene was set. The Bradman Foundation had 6 Poms who had chosen to holiday in Australia, just so they could play in the match (get a life boys!!!), a young Fijian wicketkeeper on a Bradman Foundation scholarship, and a number of local (Aussie) tragics. The 45 over match was split into two halves as the weather forecast was not good. The first 25 hours saw the Bradman Foundation exploit the conditions, and set up a commanding lead, but as luck would have it, the Gods intervened, and the heavens opened.  


A great day was had by all, including the family members who travelled down for the event. There was Mum( who's watched more cricket than Richie Benaud!), Adrienne, Jenny, Dave, Jill, Tracey, Dan, Carol, John & April. Although I must say, that the girls shopping excursion into town, simply wasn't cricket!

Forget the Ashes, the real cricket this summer was in Bowral, where noone cared about the result, and cricket memories were made. Put a big tick in one of those "must do before I die" boxes Neil.

Now, how do I work my way to Augusta???