Australia vs NZ 1st test – 21 Nov 2008

I had the day off work Friday to take my four year son to his first international cricket match. I’ve thought for some time that I should make more of an effort to catch the first test each year at the Gabba. Friday was our first.

We had some beautiful seats in the Northern Upper – unlicensed section. It was easy to buy the tickets online as I only needed to purchase one (this will change from next year when my son sadly hits the ticket purchasing age of 5).  I think groups of two or more may have been sent much further back.

The day before Australia were bowled out rather cheaply. It’s more stating a fact than defending their performance to say that the extreme wet weather in Brisbane played a part. Apparently the covers were wet through, so the groundstaff used some souped-up hair driers to try and dry the pitch.  It was all to no avail, as the bowlers had a field day.

We saw the Aussie attack bowl out the Kiwis even more cheaply. It turned out to be a good day to see. Stuart Clarke, Mitchell Johnson, and my son’s favourite player – Andrew Symonds – all featuring prominently.