Sydney Smash

What are your memories of summer? For me it was swimming in our backyard pool, hot mornings at little aths, annual christmas holiday to Albany, cricket on the TV and playing cricket with the boys next-door! For our girls, well their childhood memories are currently being made with the almost nightly viewing of the Big Bash League, a 20 overs cricket match, which is making an impact!

And so with Ella enjoying playing cricket, we decided to investigate tickets to see a BBL match. The only game to be held in Canberra was sold out, so we looked further afield to Sydney. Nothing was looking promising in our initial search with either matches sold out or on days we weren't able to attend. We left it there.

A few days later Andy decided to look again with the idea of going to Melbourne. We checked out flights and tickets, trying to convince ourselves it would be worth it when he checked the Sydney game again and there were tickets available! We quickly snapped up enough for the whole family.

With tickets firmly in our hands, we assessed the logistics of accommodation and how to get to and from the game at the SCG. As the game was likely to finish around 10.30pm, we settled on a hotel that Andy had used for work located in Randwick.

It was a leisurely drive via a lunch stop at Berrima. Really enjoyed the beef and mushroom pie - I think I might have said it was the best pie that I've ever tasted! Back on the Hume, the traffic became more congested as we approached Sydney until we were at crawling pace near the SCG!! A few navigational errors added a few minutes too. By the time we arrived at our hotel we were all a little hot and bothered!

On approach to the hotel, both girls were excited about what it was going to be like. They are hilarious with their view on the world. The hotel was nothing flash...one may describe it as quaint. Upon unlocking the door, they both squeal with happiness exclaiming this is the best ever... they see the old furniture as impressive, the shampoo and soaps as exciting, the bunk beds as awesome and Ella's discovery of the hairdryer well that just the topping on the cake for some reason!!

We cooled off with a shower before wandering up to the local shops to buy snacks for dinner. From there we boarded a local bus. Some 15 mins later we jumped off,  crossed the street, walked a short distance to our gate at the SCG. Passing the bag check we found our seats upstairs on the third tier with a wonderful view of the pitch. A very smooth operation.

And so we settled nicely into our afternoon / evening of cricket! The WBBL match had already started with the Sydney Sixes winning the toss and electing to bat first. Ella, a keen Sydney Thunder fan, thanks to a Thunder signed playing top from her coach last year, was obviously cheering for the green team so we all followed suit!

The Sydney Sixes were all out for 113 with Elyse Perry top batter scoring 25. Sam Bates from the Sydney Thunder bowled well. The Thunder made a shaky and slow start with a few ducks until Stalenberg came in, making 48 runs from 41 balls, turning the match around and sealing the player of the match. Thunder overcame the Sixes in the 19th over with a score of 6-114.



It was a lengthy wait before the start of the BBL but we spotted the Thunder girls signing autographs around the ground. Ella beelined downstairs and managed to squeeze between the crowd and scored a few more autographs for her shirt! She was pleased as punch! For Katy, the match was a steep learning curve. Having never played cricket and not really taken much notice of the sport, she was full of questions. Her cracker one was when a four was hit and she turned and asked 'How many runs to they get for a four?'

The sun was setting as the captains of the Sydney Sixes and Sydney Thunder emerged onto the pitch. Sixes won the toss, opting to bowl first. Thunder began well with Vince hitting 4 sixes in the first 4 overs. LBW of Khawaja started a slide of wickets before Green stabilised the game, producing a man of the match effort scoring 49 off 27 balls. By the end of the innings, Thunder were 6-156.

In the interval break, we located Cathy, Maki, Luca and Owen who were watching from seats below us. As the family next to them departed their seats, we joined them for the first few overs before retreating to our original seats for a better view. The Sixes had a great start with the first wicket not falling until the 9th over (1-69). It wasn't looking very good for the Thunder. Despite the run rate for the Sixes slowed a little and a wicket falling in the 16th over, it seemed that the Sixes had the game in the bag needing 30 runs from the last 23 balls.

However Thunder hadn't given up and the balls ticked away but the runs didn't. The excitement levels were rising with the Sixers needing 9 runs in the last over! Again it looked easy but the game came down to the last ball!! The crowd was buzzing with everyone on the edge of their seat for this nail biting finish! Henriques from the Sixers faced, slogging it to deep mid wicket for the 2 required runs. The Sixers had won their first game of the season! It also meant that the Thunder had just paved a hard road to the top 4 for themselves.

We were slightly disappointed that Thunder didn't win but what a game to be at! The noise and atmosphere was amazing and very loud at times! It was such an awesome experience for the girls. We joined the mass exodus of people from the SCG, heading for the bus stop and were pleasantly surprise to board straight on to a bus without queueing and were back at the hotel much faster than expected with everyone looking forward to some sleep!

The next morning, after waiting for Ella to finish drying her hair with the hairdryer(!), we headed out for breakfast before a quick dip in the rough ocean at Maroubra. We were back in Canberra by early afternoon and excited to be spending the next week with Grandad who had been minding Pippa!