Renegades Almost Scorch Perth at the Furnace

Boxing Day Big Bash T20 cricket came to Perth stadium, also known as the Furnace played host to the Perth Scorchers and the Melbourne Renegades to continue the daily feast of cricket after the opening day's play of the Boxing Day test match wrapped up in Melbourne and with this game being the follow up. While there has been plenty of talk over why there were dismal crowds according to the cricketing media from the previous test match played only just over a week earlier, it was not the case for tonight with quite a crowd for this evening's match. 

Like I have stated in my last entry from the test match, there are many factors at play causing the low attendance figures. While they are not actually terrible numbers as if they were at the WACA it would have been deemed a packed venue with a rather cosy atmosphere. It does not look good when the stadium looks empty and then tonight you have a rather full stadium to watch some wham-bam big hitting and loud cricket. It is a jarring experience and would leave cricket pundits, journalists and fans scratching their heads or even (for the guys) stroking their beards in contemplation about why such a contrast of attendance figures. Now, with even that said, I will not delve into that as I said in the previous entry. That issue is for perhaps an opinion piece and might warrant an entry for another time when I can. 

Another fine, warm Perth evening with the sun setting and another beautiful orange and crimson light permeating through the clouds as the sunlight gives way to the lights of the stadium for some T20 Big Bash League cricket between Perth Scorchers and the Melbourne Renegades. While you would think that orange for the hosts and red for the visitors may be enough to distinguish who they are, because they are kitted out by the same manufacturer with both wearing black makes it rather hard to distinguish who is who. Now for those who are following the game closely, it would not be such a major issue. However, if you are not a cricket person, or just simply a casual observer of the game in any form, orange and red tends to be blurred and hard to see. I think that cricket teams should now look into having 'away' or 'clash' kits for not just T20 cricket but also in List A one day cricket and one day internationals. 

Now with yet another gripe out of the way we should start to talk about the cricket perhaps? Otherwise, it might just be an article of me simply moaning and complaining about all things about the game and the stadium! Perth had two early wickets fall and it did not look good for the hosts with the Renegades collective tails up, it looked like it would be hard going and a low total would be looming. However, the ship was steadied with Hardie and Inglis making 57 and 64 respectively and the Scorchers were racing away and looking like there was going to be a big score posted. 

Inglis was the first to go at 124 and the Hardie was out when it was 157. It did look like Perth were set to reach 200, even potentially hit 220 but all the wickets came tumbling down and the Scorchers ended up being bowled for 162. Quite the catastrophic and sudden collapse I have seen in a while live; even for T20 cricket. I thought that 162 was not enough and that Melbourne would have the batsmen to reach that total with ease. 150-160 while it can be a defendable score in this shortened form of the game, is now a rather reachable total these days. It is much like how in the 80s and 90s a score of 250-280 was quite a challenging score with 300 plus being a colossal total. 

I was not expecting Perth to be able to contain the visitors but the bowling was tight and the fielding was hyper vigilant with the fielder's throwing everything they have to stop any ball from getting outside the inner circle and restrict them to singles or dot-balls. Perth were going to make sure that the Renegades would have to fight for every run and work extra hard to earn them and not give any freebies away. 

The wickets just kept falling and the pressure just kept mounting as Melbourne were cracking and buckling under the immense pressure. It was a rather stoic performance from former Western Australian Sheffield shield winning captain, Shaun Marsh that led the visitors with a spirited fight and showed staunch resistance. Marsh's batting was posing a serious threat to the Scorchers and Melbourne looked like that they were on course to wrestle the win out of Perth's grasp after they had maintained the pressure for so long in the innings. 

Marsh made 59 and the Renegades were 128 for 4 down and looked like it would not be long for them to reach the total and go home back to Melbourne with the win. However, they too suffered a massive collapse and wickets just fell like a Jenga tower losing its balance and players witnessing the blocks spilling all over the table, spelling the monumental end to the game; this innings was heading in the same fashion. It was one of those cricketing 'train wrecks' that T20 cricket has been now so synonymous and infamous with. The Renegades fell short and ran out of balls to spare and finished at the end of their 20 overs at 8/149, just falling short of pulling off that victory against the defending champions. So the Scorchers won by 13 runs. 

Now onto the food. As I had the troops with me, they were rather hungry and a restless bunch. They would consume many a drink and many a bite but they were just not in an agreeable mood tonight and I think that it was a long day for them. But the usual fare for Pepsi being 6.50 and hot chips were 6.80 with habanero hot wings being 12 dollars and smiths potato chips were 6 dollars for the larger bag. The hot wings were spicy. Now they had a nice kick to them that I quite enjoy, in fact thinking about them and typing about them has my mouth watering they were that good. But for the troops, they were perhaps just a bit too spicy for them, but they kept persisting and that was good. Though from that persistence came the need to drink more and a few Pepsi bottles were bought as well as water for 5 dollars a 500mL bottle. 

The wings came with a pickle ranch dipping sauce and that was rather nice to go with the wings as well as the hot chips that were nicely salted, crunchy and nice and hot but not scolding hot. The Bulleit bourbon was 13.90 for full strength as I was in the members section of the ground. I can only assume that for the similar price for this season it would be only for mid-strength varieties. Then there were the ice-creams that were again on the expensive side at 6 dollars. They were the bubble-gum flavoured cyclone icy-pole style ice cream. Then to wrap it up I had the Colorado hot dog. That was the hot dog bun with a sausage containing onion, green chili sauce and no sauce. It was not too bad but the onion was in abundance and overwhelming with it taking away from the chili sauce. But when I took bites with the 3 in unison and not with an imbalance, it did taste rather nice. However, at 14 dollars it was a rather steep price for what you are actually getting. 

Another evening at the cricket watching some Big Bash which I don't get invested into as it isn’t really my thing but it is nice to just be out of the house and enjoy spending it with the family on a nice balmy lovely Perth evening. While the food and beverage prices are painful, watching cricket and Aussie rules is the opposite and always a pleasure to view. Looking forward to the next time and hopefully my wallet will not take such a beating.

Australia Turns Up The Heat on Pakistan

The Australian test summer had kicked off with Pakistan touring Australia for three test matches, also part of the World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle at Perth Stadium. Marketed as the 'West Test' in which I cringe every time I hear, think, read, or type out that moniker, so from now on in this article I will definitely be avoiding typing that in this article that is always Pulitzer award-winning. Pakistan will be touring Perth for the first test, then to Melbourne for the boxing day test match and then finally in the first week of January in Sydney for the third and final test before leaving Australian shores for New Zealand and their T20 matches.

It was a lovely day in Perth, an ideal day for cricket with the sun out and a few clouds that would roll on by with a gentle breeze, but not enough to cool down as it was a rather warmish day. Australia had won the toss and elected to bat first, a wise decision as the day would be more in Australia's possession with Pakistan causing some worries during the game, but not enough to wrestle Australia's dominance.

Warner and Khawaja batted well and had placed a 50-run stand before the pair made it 126 before the first wicket fell. Khawaja and Warner were batting really well and it looked like the two were on course to make it to 200 for no loss but the experience of Shaheen Shah Afridi undid Khawaja and broke the deadlock. Labuschagne pushed the score further along but he did not last long and fell at 159 for 16. It looked like Pakistan may have started to wrestle the game back into their favour with two wickets falling in rather close and quick succession.

Steve Smith came to the crease and it certainly looked that a more determined and resolved former captain was working hard to rectify his recent form slump and working towards building a partnership with Warner who was really starting to see the ball like it was rather beachball like and punishing the Pakistan bowling attack making them look rather pedestrian at times. It did seem that the Pakistan bowlers seemed to be not quite at their best and seemed slightly off their usual pace. That is something for the players and their coaching staff to try and rectify because at times it just seemed that they were just struggling to get going and assert any dominance with their quicker bowlers. However, an error by Smith resulted in a tickle to the keeper and a wasted review with Smith departing for a disappointing 31 and Australia at 3 for 238.

Travis Head crashed his way to a fleeting 40 and with Warner's aggressive batting approach had really taken the game to Pakistan to unnerve them, making them look unsettled and unable to find a groove and rhythm to reapply pressure back onto the Australians. It was not long after Head's departure that Warner's innings had finally come to a close with the troubled opener being caught off the bowling of Pakistan's debutant Aamer Jamal for 164 with Alex Carey and Mitchell Marsh at the crease both in their teens to build onto the total for day two. Play ended on day one with Australia being 5 for 346.

Australia ended the opening day strong with a few wickets to fall giving Pakistan some sniff that it could swing their way. However, Australia had established themselves to head into day two with two quality batsmen needing to look to add another 100 possibly 150 onto the total to post a challenging first innings to have the visitors chase.

Now it is time for the food. The food and drink choices at Perth stadium are not bad, the only issue with them, like it has always been, are the prices. With the ridiculous events that have been transpiring all around the world over the past three years have placed immense pressure upon all industries, with food and beverage being no different. So, I avoided buying food unless I was genuinely hungry and while it was a rather warmish day, I did not want to go too over the top and spend too much money. Though bottles of Pepsi were 6 dollars, water 5 dollars and cans of Bulleit bourbon being 13.90. Full strength but highly expensive unfortunately. The Texas pulled pork roll was rather nice but for 13.20 it is a bit on the steep side. It should be around at the 10-12 dollar mark in my opinion.

It was then followed up with some classic magnum ice-creams and they were 6.4 each. I expect that for magnums, but they are the slightly smaller sized versions of themselves and perhaps the price is too much accordingly. Though it was the classic chocolate with vanilla ice-cream and went down a treat despite the smaller size and higher price.

All in all, it was another good day of test cricket viewing in Perth. I did not comment on the crowds as that is an entirely different topic of discussion that perhaps I will write a separate opinion piece article on when I have the time. But I think that I will leave it to the numerous journalists that are clanking away with their articles on more prevalent cricket outlets. The stadium is an excellent facility with comfortable seating with shade that covers the vast majority of spectators and with sufficient airflow that gently rolls through for their comfort. The sun at around 5-5.30 in the late afternoon causes a bit of grief but besides that it is a nice place to watch cricket. Though the genuine and true wicket of the WACA will never be surpassed by this drop-in wicket that tries to replicate it. Looking forward to watching another test match in Perth for next summer, though I am feeling nostalgic and missing the days where after the test match, the World Series would roll on through and be an entertaining series of Australian cricket.

Glorious Perth Keep Mariners At Port

Was a warmish afternoon which started to cool down in the early evening in another wonderful Perth spring with the setting sun creating yet another beautiful backdrop behind the Perth city skyline for another game of A-League between Perth Glory and the Central Coast Mariners. Perth have had an up and down season and the Mariners have not won a game so far. However, it is still early doors as they say and that this is just the beginning of the season. So there are still plenty of chances for both teams to turn their fortunes around and hopefully march upwards on the A-League table.

The game was a bit of a scrappy affair at times with Perth looking threatening in small passages of play. However, this would be potentially brought to nought when against the run of play the visitors would venture forwards and put the Glory defence under immediate pressure and danger, only for the last line of defence keeping them at bay for a corner or a close missed opportunity from the visitors. Both teams would be huffing and puffing, but no house was going to be blown down as the scores were locked at nil-all at the break. Perth would be frustrated to not have at least one goal in the bank as they were the better side going into the break.

Perth looked the better team, though there were moments where Central Coast looked like they were going to spoil the party and possibly snatch a goal from the run of play. This was not to be as Perth opened the account with calm defence and running the ball out for a counter, splitting the midfield and defence putting the keeper under pressure. Colakovski was then one-on-one with the keeper and weaved around him to slot home the first goal of the match in the 52nd minute.

Some drama was to follow into the second half with a goal scored, only for it to be disallowed, then for VAR to determine that Central Coast had caused an infringement and to issue a player a red card. Very unusual circumstances but now the visitors were down to 10 men, though the goal should have been awarded in my un-professional (I am no referee) opinion. However, deep into the second half a Taggart goal had sealed the three points and had secured the first win for Perth of the 2023-24 season, keeping Central Coast winless and facing many hard questions.

The food was, as usual expensive. Though I was not alone on this occasion and normally I would be avoiding the food and even drinks here at Perth Oval as they are rather expensive. The troops had come along, with the two youngest ones watching their first Perth Glory game. So of course their little tummies would be hungry and thirsty. Equally hungry and thirsty to deplete the wallet of funds. Pepsi 600mL bottles were 6 dollars and ordered 4 of them. Then I had ordered two buckets of hot chips and a southern chicken with coleslaw and chilli sauce. The chicken sub was 13 dollars and the chips were 8 dollars each. While the chips were ok and salted alright, the portion and for 8 dollars is out of touch and ridiculous. But they will argue that the inflationary pressures and therefore to make ends meet require the prices to go upwards. While I understand this in economics, the reality is that if fathers, or parents take their children to these games it will be a very expensive experience. The chicken was nice, the coleslaw wasn't too bad with the sauce. It wasn't overly spicy as it was somewhat tangy but it was nice. I would like to have something a bit spicier, but that is my taste as I like spicy food.

All-in-all was a pleasant experience to watch another game of A-League in Perth. The troops had enjoyed their first win in person and the eldest was happy to see a win after have a bit of an unfortunate streak of only seeing losses. It is a shame that the cost of food and beverages are just so crippling to the overall matchday experience.

Falcons Finish Strong Against the Resurgent Royals

With the last round of the Western Australian Football League (WAFL) concluding this weekend, East Perth were looking to end the regular season with some improved form against a resurgent West Perth. West Perth were looking for their sixth win in a row, despite this impressive run of form it was not enough to turn around their season's position on the table and a result here would not yield finals. East Perth on the other hand have started to wobble with the royal coach starting to lose steam at such a pivotal part of their season as they are heading into finals football.

Was a wonderfully warm, bright and sunny day at Arena Joondalup, now known as Pentanet Stadium for sponsorship purposes. A few clouds rolled on by and a bit of a breeze but nothing too discerning for the players and fans alike. East Perth just were not able to settle and the hosts were continuing their end of season form by shutting down any potential Royals attack, with East Perth only able to kick three goals in the first two quarters of the match compared to West Perth's eight. The Falcons were in firm control at half time and East Perth simply had no options to push into their attacking 50 and looked set to be blown away in the following two quarters.

However, out of nowhere and against the run of play, East Perth turned it around by kicking eight goals in the third quarter with West Perth's three to bring the third quarter time interval a five point margin. East Perth's change of form and the sudden halt of dominance of the Falcons set the final quarter's showdown to be a tight affair. Despite East Perth pulling themselves back into the contest and pushing West Perth to work for their scoring shots, it wasn't enough as the Falcons kicked another five goals to East Perth's disappointing two goals to snuff out any chance of a Royals victory. West Perth at the final siren getting across the line by 15 points. This slump of end of season form by the boys of blue and black is of a high concern after sitting on top of the table for the vast bulk of the season, now slumping to fourth. The road to the 2023 flag became a difficult task as East Perth to bring home the goods will need to win four straight matches.

As I have not been to Arena Joondalup for quite some time, I was unfamiliar with the layout where the food and drink was. I was only able to source chips and cool drink. The chips were rather tasty, hot, nicely salted and not too burnt, being a nice crunchy, crispy taste. Of course, Coca-Cola is exactly what you would expect. However, given the slightly warmer day the drink went down nicely and was highly refreshing. The coke was 5 dollars and the chips were 7 dollars. Not too bad as the servings was a nice portion, but there were no alternatives for example if you wanted them loaded with gravy, cheese, curry or other topping over your chips.

Given the nature of my personal commitments and work, I was glad to enjoy a rare and seldomly experienced outing of WAFL football. Hopefully I can find more time next season and be able to enjoy the fruits of my labour. Was great to spend some time up at Joondalup and be out there and watch some local football.

Eagles Take a Swoop as Royals Fail to Sparkle

A bright and sunny August afternoon at Leederville Oval played host to a wobbly East Perth looking to regain some form leading into the finals and a deflated and out of sorts West Coast looking to run to their season's finish line with some consolatory gains. West Coast's midfield led by Isiah Winder and Rhett Bazzo were stand-outs for the visitors, but it was not enough to turn around the deficit with the Royals running home 48 point winners.

Winder was critical around the ball in a competitive display against East Perth with Callum Jamieson faced a tough match-up against East Perth's Jedd Edwards. East Perth faced stiff opposition from the Eagles with the Bazzo, Baker and Foley defensive line being able to bring the ball into their attacking 50 58 times in the valiant defeat.

The Eagles were giving it their all against an East Perth unit that had won 8 games in a row and were at one stage sitting at the top of the WAFL table, looking like certain hot favourites for the 2023 flag come September. In an early blow for West Coast, Zane Sumich went down with a hamstring complaint in the first few minutes of the first term and took no further part in the game. 

While the Eagles managed to keep the Royals at bay early, East Perth put their foot down and doubled West Coast’s score by the first break. 

The Eagles showed a glimmer of hope in the second half and attempted to reduce the margin with some scoreboard pressure but East Perth took control of the ball around the ground and were unable to be stopped. It was an important win for the Royals, who finish the season in the top four and will play finals for the first time in five years. The final score was East Perth 11.24 (114) to West Coast 10.6 (66).

As I had arrived a bit late for the match, shocking I know, due to the troops failing to mobilise quick enough to be deployed for football action at Leederville Oval; only ice cream was on hand for them. A simple ice cream was 4 dollars and an ice cream with all the trimmings was 9 dollars. Not too bad when you think of it as the size of the ice cream is pretty decent. 

However, you got to eat them somewhat quickly as they are soft-serve and they will start to melt quickly, even in mid August conditions. The troops enjoyed their ice creams and they did enjoy the football, despite their confusion and slowly understanding the rules. Always a good day to head to the football and will try to head down to more games in 2024.

Upset at Lambert Park

Ventured to watch some New South Wales Premier Leagues (NPLNSW) at Lambert Park between hosts APIA Leichardt and Blacktown City on a rather cool July Saturday evening in Sydney. Thankfully the weather was fine and no threat of rain or anything unpleasant besides the chilly winds blowing in from the coast send the thermometer southwards as the match progressed. However, not too drastic where anyone would be in clear visible discomfort. Though the comforts of home and warmth would have been nice!

Now I have not seen an NPL game or A-League game played on synthetic before, or I simply cannot recall, so I was interested to see how the surface would play out for the game and if the players would play any differently, or there would be no differences and they would play as per normal. Now I am sure that I would be blasted for not being better adjusted to the foibles of Sydney's public transportation system, the fact that everything takes more time than it should. I honestly should be better than that, though I am a mere mortal after all. So, taking the light rail from Central to Marion was quite the windy trail and time was just being eaten up. Getting to the ground I was unfamiliar with the entrance and where to go. Though once I had figured it out it was straight forward and found my way to the canteen.

Now I was a little disappointed about what was on offer at the canteen, but I was happy to have something as I was feeling rather peckish. The food on offer was your standard Australian football codes hot food. Hot chips, sausage rolls, sausage sizzles and pies. The 'additions' were salads, steak rolls and a ham and egg roll. There was a coffee machine at hand and the guys behind the counter were making the drinks like they've been doing it with their eyes closed with orders coming left right and centre. They were pumping out the orders and was very impressive to witness. 

So, I ordered a sausage roll and a can of coke. I was thinking of a beer, but I wasn't able to see them on the menu list. I probably wasn't looking hard enough or aware of where they were being such a newbie to the venue and the situation here at Lambert Park. I'm sure they were available; I just didn't see them. I sat down on the opposite wing of the members stand that looks more akin to a boarded-up fortress, the Joe Marston stand after a pioneering Australian footballer in which a medal is named after him or the best performing player in the old National Soccer League and A-League final. There was no way to be able to go to that stand as they follow a strict member only rule and they enforce that with extreme prejudice. The sausage roll with tomato sauce was nice, though I might have added a bit more. The can of coke went down nice and was all reasonably priced. The roll was 5 dollars and the can was 3. 

APIA had dominated the first half with opening the scoring in the 23rd minute and looked like they were going to further their lead by putting Blacktown under all sorts of trouble and were being pushed back and were struggling to clear their lines and mount some form of counter or strings of threatening passes to try and build pressure upon the hosts. It did not look likely that the visitors were going to score, let alone spend some degree of time in their attacking half. I was honestly thinking that the second half might be more of the same and APIA would be scoring more and more.

However, something must have happened in the change rooms of Blacktown as their manager must have fired a rocket up their bottoms to lift them from a rather lacklustre half and demanded to lift for their one rather vocal fan it seemed. Yes, there were other Blacktown fans around, though not as vocal and rambunctious as that guy was in his home kit, hat, scarf and flag. The visitors came out charging and were instantly throwing hay-makers catching the hosts by surprise and were stunned that they were at the receiving end of this aggressive challenge.

While the tempo throughout the game was of a high level, Blacktown seemed to be struggling but found their feet in the second half and were able to match APIA and give it back to them mounting serious threats catching them off guard. You could see it all over their faces that they were not prepared for this unrelenting attacking from Blacktown and it culminated with the scores being levelled and really sent a message to the rather vocal home fans. This was not going to be a walk in the park for them and at the 58th minute mark would be the definitive turning point for the game.

The visitors were just pressing down both wings and trying to find weaknesses in the defensive armour of APIA. The men in claret were staying strong however, not allowing the men in black to over-run them and showing them why they are top of the table in the NPLNSW. The defensive lines of APIA were to be breached ten minutes later and they were now trailing for the first time. They were just not finding the answers to these attacking waves and when they did try and venture forward, the didn't have that bite to put one away.

The last ten minutes of the match, as well as the additional 4 minutes of stoppage time saw APIA spring to life and were able to turn the tide and tempo against them, though it would not bare any fruit and the match ended in a win to Blacktown City 2-1 against the table toppers.

This was an interesting match to see in my first NPLNSW in 11 years and my first at APIA's home ground. These grounds in Sydney are tighter-knit with limited spaces compared to the grounds of Perth. Was great to watch some entertaining football on a cool Sydney winter's evening.