Warriors Notching Up Runs

Ventured down to the WACA Ground to watch Western Warriors (Western Australia) play the Bulls (Queensland) in a Sheffield Shield match on a beautifully bright, clear and warm day 2 of the four day match. Western Australia were putting on the runs against a Queensland attack where it looked like they were swatting the ball as if it were a huge inflated beach ball.
Mitchell Marsh played a fantastic innings with an impressive 141. He was caught behind with a flashing shot down the leg side but after a long day out in the middle, you could forgive him for a rash shot looking for more runs.
While I was watching the game I was sitting in the member's enclosure relaxing when I was rather thirsty and decided for a drink. Decided to go for some spirits and went for a captain Morgan and rum. It was a staggering 11 dollars for a 3.5% volume alcohol can! That is outrageous! I cannot believe that in the member's enclosure it is watered down alcohol. While I wouldn't mind the insane price for alcohol if it was full strength alcohol, but this is mid-strength! While I understand the pricing so people can not buy too many and possibly get drunk, this is just "nanny state" to more overbearing levels. The limit is two per person so while go over the top and have them at 11 dollars each and mid-strength?

While it was a wonderful day watching some shield cricket, there is a sour taste in my mouth from the highway robbery that was the price of my drink. Guess I wont be drinking here in the member's enclosure now also.

Perth Lacking Glory Against Melbourne Victory

A wonder and beautiful sunny warm Sunday in Perth played host to Perth Glory and Melbourne Victory.Perth after coming off a humiliating 5-2 thrashing in Wellington, were hoping to have a change in fortunes against the improving Victory. Perth in the first half looked impressive, holding the ball and stringing passes together and were probing for an opening. However nothing came about of these attacks and the match ended at half time 0-0.

Perth minus their star Diego Castro looked flat, they looked like they had no core running instructions to the rest of the body. This was evident as Melbourne decided that enough was enough and switched up gears to put the foot down and began to grind Perth into a chaotic mix. There was clear evidence that once again Kenny Lowe was bereft of ideas as Perth were trying to hit back but would be smacked down by Melbourne over and over again.

With some poor defending Melbourne opened the score through a Berisha goal. Perth were crippled afterwards and just didn't look like scoring. Andy Keogh while a good signing for Perth just seems to huff, and puff but just unable to blow the house down. The amount of time he would work through defenders and just fail to finish is frustrating for a Perth fan.

Once again i avoided food as it is expensive, but I did have yet again some drinks. Had a water, pepsi and a johnnie walker and coke for 18 dollars. Water and pepsi was 5 dollars each and the spirit was 8 dollars.

Despite Perth putting on an insipid display, it is always great to head down to nib stadium and enjoy a game off football and enjoy the warmth and fantastic sunshine that Perth puts on each summer.

Australia Make it for Russia

Ventured to Sydney midweek to see Australia play Honduras in the second and final leg of the intercontinental play-offs between the best third ranked Asian side and the best fourth ranked north and central American side. The whole journey was filled with drama and events but all in all was a fantastic shorty trip to see Sydney again.
Due to track problems, a tree falling on the lines or something had caused the network to slow down. This caused huge delays to my journey to Olympic Park and I was going to miss the start of the match. I only missed the first 15 minutes, which wasn't too bad but I did want to get there on time. This is a huge game!
Before going to my seat I had decided to grab something to eat and drink as I did not want to leave my seat after missing a bit of the game already! I bought a coke and a hot-dog for 12.50 which was typical stadium prices. Coke was 6 dollars and the hot-dog a staggering 6.50.
I actually had planned on having a beer or something else but to be honest from those two high prices, I had decided to go against it.

Australia was never seriously threatened, except for a few moments where the Hondurans looked threatening. Funny how when Ange's Australian side is up against the wall for a do-or-die clash they seem to play better, unlike during the qualifiers they play like a Sunday league side. While the cattle on the park these days are very thin compared to the golden generation, the manager himself is utterly bereft of ideas and usually is found wanting by teams that should be dispatched, but manage to take points off them.

Australia though didn't look like they would score form open play which has been a huge concern during this "revolution" we were promised since 2013. So far we are still waiting for this to happen. Jedinak scored the opening goal with a free kick which deflected and went in.

Later in the second half you had two penalties given and Jedinak completing his hat-trick. Juric missed yet again another one-on-one howler which could have put Australia 4 goals ahead. Late into the second half Honduras scored a consolation goal to finish the match 3-1. Australia won 3-1 on aggregate and booked the 31st place to Russia.

Leaving the stadium was a bit of a nightmare as tens of thousands of people wishing to go back to the CBD had to wait for a very long time to be marshalled into the station in order to go home.

Sydney though, put on a great event and has always been great to visit.