Boxing Day was the kind of day where, by 3
pm, lying on the couch and watching cricket felt too much like hard work and I
headed off for a nap. It’s still a bit like that. Plus I’ve have some actual too much hard work to do, and all work at this time of the year is excessive. The
Boxing Day test: I was very sad to see Sangakkara have so much bad luck and
very happy to see Mitchell Johnson have a good bat and there was a lot of good
Cricket Lovin’ and some excellent turkey sandwiches.
But I did get to rifle through some boxes. I rifled through my Useful Box for Ponting tidbits and found an awful
lot of clippings of Shane Warne’s centenary (400th, 500th,
600th…) wickets. I think an early comment by Trevor Marshallsea about
Ponting’s “single-minded desire to consult those around him” was supposed to be
tongue in cheek. I found the “Romantic Double Century” poster (not triple as
I’d thought), and I don’t think it has escaped anyone how effective Swisse
vitamins have been in reversing hair loss.
The bigger surprise was when I was
unpacking a box of crockery that had been sitting in my sister’s garage for a
good 15 years. After pulling out a fun Age sports section cover from 27
November 1994, with pictures of Australia’s “dynamic duo”, Michael Slater and
Mark Waugh, the jackpot was unwrapping a dinner plate to reveal this
spectacular pin-up:
When moving pictures went colour, Lucille
Ball was known as “Technicolor Tessie”, because her blue eyes, red hair and
lips and fair skin came up so well under the new technology. I think of Warnie
as the “Technicolor Tessie” of cricket because of the way his greens and golds
sparkle under the camera lens, and they’re on-theme to boot. I was a bit
surprised at there being a pin-up at all in the Age sports section, and I’m not
sure why it’s Warnie at this stage. It’s the middle of the first Ashes Test in
Brisbane and it’s the batting that’s the big story, Warnie’s hat-trick is still
to come in the next game. Something for the kiddies, I suppose. Or just because
he’s so damn photogenic.
Sri Lanka have lost their first wicket in
the New Year’s Test and I’m off to the ground tomorrow. I think I explained at
some length last time how going to the ground isn’t really about the cricket,
so I shouldn’t complain that I won’t be seeing too much Australian bowling or
Sri Lankan batting. As per usual, it will be about the
cryptic crossword and damn fine egg sandwiches.
