G'day from the Land Down Under!I feel it would have been wrong of me to open the Australian chapter of this blog with anything other than the most stereotypical Antipodean one-liner in existence. It turns out "G'day" is not half as prevalent a greeting (at least in Melbourne) as popular culture makes out.
I landed here in Melbourne early doors yesterday morning, but it's been an action-packed 24 hours, during which I've managed to get signed up for some Saturday League cricket, choke in a darts tournament with A$100 for the taking, and wear a tidy "Welcome to Australia" bouncer from the 1xt XI's opening bowler squarely in the rib cage - and that's not even including a solid 12 hours of sleep!
Things began happening from the moment my cousins picked me up from the airport. It turns out my cousin, Trevor - who I was meeting for the first time - loves his cricket and plays every weekend. Hearing I dabbled in the sport myself, I was soon scheduling an Australian debut this weekend and a spot of training for the evening!
On the topic of cousins, an explanatory word or two is probably useful. My "cousins" out here in Australia are actually 2nd cousins - they are a wing of my family consisting of my (maternal) grandmother's eldest sister's children and further descendants. Yes, I have a lot of cousins.
Anyway, I'm staying here in Vermont in Eastern Melbourne for a few days at Trevor's brother's place along with his mother - my Mum's first cousin - who I've met in England a few times over the years. Her and I had a bit of a wander around in the morning, and did a spot of cooking for lunch (I made an old uni-favourite in the form of my 5-minute special fried rice), before I abruptly crashed out for a couple of hours as another night with a complete lack of sleep caught up with me.
Thanks to that tidy kip, I was fresh as a daisy for the evening's training session down at Koonung Heights. Great bunch of lads - like any good cricket club, training is followed by dinner and drinks in the pavilion, although not before I managed to nab myself a wicket with my third ball (bowled middle stump) and have a cheeky bat (borrowing Trevor's gear).
Anyone lucky enough to witness a Dean Rodrigues "batting masterclass" will know that I use the term "batting" is used in its most liberal sense... more accurate alternatives would include "tail-end slogging", "swinging wildly", or just "ducking". However, still riding the wave of my last innings - an 18-ball 28 that included launching the biggest 6 ever seen at Bexhill CC (and getting bowled middle stump next ball), I strolled out into the net confident enough. Of course, we all know Australians aren't massively keen on over-confident Poms, so after a few balls warming up I was greeted to Koonung's 1st XI opening bowler pinging down some rather fast cherries. Took him a few balls to warm up too, but it was as the clouds came over that I misjudged an outswinging short ball that, rather than bouncing high and wide down the leg side, cut into my body and kept lower than expected. Unfortunately, I'd already committed to a half-hearted duck, and got nailed. Sweet.
Anyway, the post training clubhouse gathering had a bit of spice, in the form of the inaugural Koonung Heights CC Darts Championship. 20 players signed up to the head-to-head knockout tournament, with highest score over 9 darts going through to the next round. With everyone paying A$5 entry, the winner-takes-all A$100 had everyone interested... but I was quietly confident being pretty much the only person there who'd played much before. That confidence only grew after the first round, when my 164 winning score left me #1 seed for round 2. Unfortunately, my cousin Trevor - my defeated opponent in round 1, progressed through as one of 2 highest scoring losers, but seeding meant he was once again my opponent... and now out of vengeance. After he opened up with a solid 60, I choked, and ended up getting whooped. He got whooped the next round, and my first round 164 remained the highest 9 dart score by anyone all the way through. So close, yet so, so far.
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