The Oval

I speak as a newcomer to the Oval. I don't have childhood memories of it. I haven't seen any great games or met any great people there. I only have my hour encounter to tell you of its impact.

On Tuesday a colleague at work offered me his members area Ashes ticket. I wandered down at lunch time and checked it out. The place some how has a life of its own - brought to life by the spirited (in more ways than one) crowd and historic background. With a statue of the Great Don out front (to be differentiated from 'Don's Balls' mentioned in the post below), I could only approach it much like Maximillian approached the Coliseum in 'Gladiator'.

As I went through the gate I tried to protect my masculine ego and pretend as though I knew this place like I do my own house. I had no idea where to go. Taking a fortunate wrong turn, all I could see was green! (how lost can you get in an oval - head for the centre!)

Never having been to a sporting event of such a global nature (England v Australia for the American readers), I couldn't believe that no more than 100m in front of me was the Test match taking place. It really drew me in - I felt as though I was part of it.

Having been given a hand drawn map of what the members ticket allowed me to do, I trotted around the Oval - taking in the game from 180 degrees (angle, not temperature).

It was a great time to go, seeing the 8th and 9th wickets taken by Australia in the second innings of the Test. I left the Oval at 9/119, and in only 15 more minutes England fell for 129. Spectacular. What was even greater was the unbelievable comeback by the Australian side (for a far more accurate and 'sporty' commentary, see Yahoo Sport or the blog of our sport-minded cousin Kerran (who also has an interesting article on Osteitis Pubis if you're interested).

Below is a great photo I took on my mobile phone to illustrate just how close the pitch is. Just to the left, out of the photo, is Adelaide's Cathedral which is a fairly dominant element to the Oval's skyline.