Behind the scenes at the Ashes: Fans brave the rain
In the Sky Sports commentary box, Sir Ian Botham, David Gower, Nasser Hussain and Shane Warne munched on sandwiches as they discussed previous Ashes tests off air.
Warne said: “Remember the second innings when Flintoff and Jones were hitting us everywhere?
“I had Flintoff out plumb lbw. Umpire Billy Bowden didn’t have a clue. We should have won that Test.”
As Sky statistician Benedict Bermange confirmed Warne’s memory was accurate, the greats of English cricket decided against arguing with Warne.
They knew he was grasping at historical straws, that this time round England were the favourites and, to put it bluntly, Australia were no more than an ordinary team in comparison with the greats of the past 20 years. As the crowd waited for some action, spirits were kept high with hundreds of fans donning fancy dress in true Test match tradition.
Some came dressed as Australian punk rockers complete with mullet hairdos.
And two Norfolk men came dressed in enormous banana skins – hoping the Australians would slip up in their quest to retain the Ashes. Australia fan Mark Stevenson, from Sydney, said: “It will be over in five days. The Aussies will just fire up.”
England fan James Drury, from Kent, added: “Over the five days I think we will get the win and go on to clinch the whole series 2-1.”
