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Australia v England, 1st Test, Brisbane, 3rd day
Quick singles: Jones 1 Bowden 0
November 25, 2006
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Billy Bowden is usually happy to make a spectacle of himself, but even in his wildest publicity dreams he wouldn't have contrived for Geraint Jones to sweep a ball into his lower back at square leg. Billy went down faster than a beach ball snatched by a security guard and when he got up looked as dazed as he must have been when he gave Kevin Pietersen lbw. As the crowd chanted "Billy, Billy" - Craig McDermott must have felt a pang of nostalgia in his corporate box - England supporters wished Jones had struck it harder.
Fans get shirty
Much of the time between Ashes series has obviously been spent coming up with slogans and arty t-shirts for the rematch. A Barmy Army version has Captain Cook (it depends on your world view whether he was an invader or discoverer of the Queensland east coast in 1770) making an early deposit on Australian soil while reading a newspaper headlined "England invent cricket". The sanitised version of the accompanying text says "Captain Cook only stopped here for the toilet".
Where's the Barmy Army?
Queensland upset some sections of the world when they used the line "Where the bloody hell are you?" in a worldwide tourism campaign. The description became so popular locally it was used in an advertisement in the lead-up to the series and was taken a step further by cheeky Australian supporters this morning. "Barmy Army! Where the bloody hell are you?"
Fans for female fans
England's supporters are sprinkled throughout the stadium and are sure to find their true voices on the hills at Adelaide and Perth in the next two Tests. At least their female contingent was cool today. As part of Ladies Day all the girls in the stadium got traditional hand fans from Cricket Australia to provide some fresh air.
Peter English is the Australasian editor of Cricinfo
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Australasia editor Peter English is regularly accused of being English by Australians, especially during an Ashes series, but has lived most of his life in Queensland and risked re-breaking ribs by cheering the state's original Sheffield Shield win in 1994-95. He did spend three years in England but never considered swapping his Australian passport, mainly because his batting was so miserable during occasional appearances in Yorkshire's Wetherby League. In London, Peter worked for Wisden Cricket Monthly and the Guardian before returning to Australia, where he joined Cricinfo in 2004. For exercise, he now chases his two children.
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