But covid got in the way. i was disappointed but i was in planning mode only, had not booked anything and so it did not cause me any major problems. and of course there was more to worry about at the time. But when this tour schedule was announced i decided that i would finally get to see a full ashes series in Australia.
i have been to australia a few times in the past, and seen test matches in Melbourne/Sydney [generally seeing us lose other than an occasional win in the lat test when they felt sorry for us] but had actually seen us win in Adelaide in 2010. So i came with some hope but understanding that, in cricketing terms this was a very difficult place to come. To be fair australia is quite a difficult place for any sporting team to travel to - i had been here in 2001 to see the Lions lose a series, but had travelled back two years later to see England lift the world cup trophy. So i generally had experienced more highs than many british sporting travellers in the past.
Last year i travelled to Pakistan with Gullivers. They had been excellent and having all the travel organised there was essential. This time i decided to travel independently which gave me more scope to tailor my itinerary. Trailfinders put something together for me - and some early mornings booking tickets when released by australian cricket - means that i arrived with a full schedule of things to do over the next couple of months. Regardless of how the cricket goes it feels like its going to be a great trip.
I arrived in Perth late afternoon on the Tues, ahead of the first test started on Friday, I flew via Dubai and generally jetlag has been ok but taking a while to get over. Waking up in the early hours in Aus, provides opportunity to listen to mid afternoon radio in UK! I had been to Perth once before, in 2010 where i had been travelling in asia [part of a sabbatical from work], spent a couple of days before getting a train to Adelaide for the test. This time i had longer to spend, and based on reports from friends [many who seem to have offspring in Perth at the moment] its a city that is an increasingly good place to live. Ok its remote - you are a couple of thousand miles from another city [and that city is not in Australia] but it does have a vibrant feel to it and according to the guide for my walking tour an increasing cultural edge to it. That certainly came across on the time i spent here, there are a lot of modern museums, street art everywhere you go, and lots of ways that the city is encouraging people to stay around rather than purely work and return home to suburbs.
Getting around is very easy - my preference is generally to walk around a city and that is easy to do here, but the transport system - buses/trains/ferrys are cheap [a few key bus routes are always free] and easy to use. Highlights of the trip include - walking tour of the city [i seem to be really lucky in that every walking tour i go on seems to be taken by a guide that is really knowledgeable, enthusiastic and proud of the city they live in], a number of museums, a short trip to freemantle, Kings Park [large botanical park] and a morning at Perth zoo. Overall plenty to do and a relaxed start to my trip which ended watching Franz Ferdinand playing their first gig in Australia since 2018.
Oh, there was also the cricket. Two days of mad enterainment. Initial despair of what seemed like an average minus batting display, hope from what appeared to be the dominant england bowling attack that we hoped might come good. Day one finished fairly even and having sat in a mix of English and aussie fans all day, the bragging rights had swung each way a few times.
Day two - a decent start, solid going into lunch, a collapse and then some rearguard attacking batting from the bowlers left us hoping we had enough to defend. There were more aussies in my area, they were less confident than they often appear. If we bowl as well as we did in the first innings then possibly.......
What happened next was an inspired innings from Head. The England attack was bowling for the second time with only a few hours break and did not appear to have the same spark as the first innings but even at their best Head could well have dominated in the same way. Everyone knew it was going to be tough out here, but had not seen that coming.
A lot of rubbish has been said and written since - by fans and some ex player commentators who always seemed to be jealous about how the current team went about their work. To be fair, Atherton/Hussain have provided a balanced view - the team do care, do take it seriously and think about the best way to prepare and sometimes you dont get it quite right or someone does something unique. Clearly a few players need to continue to evaluate how best to deal with the aussie attack/pitches but i still have some hope. It could have been worse, Cummins/Hazlewood could have been 100% fit!
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