It’s Sydney Test time!

(Post-production note: This is a concatenation of a series of live blogs originally posted separately on the pre-lunch session on January 2 2005, day 1 of the Sydney Test against Pakistan.

RE – 2017-07-20)

It’s Sydney Test time

The Sydney Test starts in a few minutes. The game is not a sellout, therefore channel 9 in Sydney is currently showing The Prince and the Showgirl starring Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier.

Gates opened for the members at 7am this morning. SCG webcam at 7.27am showed the members stand already starting to fill. I wonder what they had for breakfast.

Live streaming of the game (for Australian listeners only) through ABC Online. The SCG webcam is updating every few minutes, but don’t expect to catch any of the action on the field.

Pakistan has won the toss and will bat first.

Drinks Day 1 Session 1: Pakistan 0/32

11.44am

A steady first hour, Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed opening for Pakistan. Shane Watson, 2005’s first Test debutant, has bowled already, one over for one run.

Today must officially be a sellout. Channel 9 broke into “The Prince and the Showgirl” at 10.45am to start live coverage in Sydney 15 minutes late. There must be plenty of pissed-off Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier or Terence Rattigan fans out there!

I’ll wait, however, to see what the official attendance is. Did channel 9 buy out the remaining unsold seats in order to gain an advertising windfall on TV? It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done that.

But I won’t stop harping about the absurd 10.30 start time for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests, done so that play will finish in time for the 6pm news. Bugger channel 9. It’s absurd to make the fans travel to the ground first thing in the morning for an early start when the sun does not set at this time of year till after 8pm *and* the ground has decent floodlights.

Midday would be a civil start time for play at the SCG.

Grandstand Cricket Club of the Year

12.07pm

ABC Grandstand has selected five finalists for its “Cricket Club of the Year” competition. With the announcement to be made a lunchtime today, the five nominees are (in no particular order):

(i): East Coburg Cricket Club (Vic)
(ii): Randwick-Petersham Cricket Club (NSW)
(iii): Poowong/Loch Cricket Club (Vic)
(iv): Payneham Cricket Club (SA)
(v): AKA Sports Cricket Club (NSW)

Details of all five nominations on the ABC website. I’m going to stick my neck out and predict, not the Randy Petes, but the AKA Sports CC by a nose from Poowong/Loch.

Lunch Day 1: Pakistan 0/92

1.07pm

Dropped catches don’t help. Yasir Hameed is 54 and Salman Butt 34. MacGill got belted for two overs before lunch.

Shane Watson, who is 5-2-9-0 at lunch, is the third Australian from the 2000 U19 World Cup in Sri Lanka to make his Australian Test debut, following Michael Clarke and Nathan Hauritz. (Another member of that squad, Ed Cowan, makes his NSW one-day debut at the WACA later today.)

Payneham CC, from the Adelaide Turf Cricket Association, won Grandstand’s Cricket Club of the Year award.

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