Australia 221/5 vs England 144/9

England has yet to win a game!

Go Oz!

England 291 & 131/9 vs Australia 393

O, Warney is going to bowl!!!! Hurrah!

Hurry up. Finish it off! I want to have a shower, but I am worried that the game may end before I am done! :P

England 551-6 dec & 129 vs Australia 513 & 168-4

(Source: Sydney Morning Herald.  http://www.smh.com.au/)

Australia in 2-0 up in the Ashes series! This is such exciting news to wake up to!

Nine wickets gone for only 70 runs. Rumours have it that some morning newspaper in London actually said it was a draw. I guess they were sent to the print too early! :)

Good on Collie for staying until the end, while his partners were constantly 'on-the-go'.

It would have been exciting watching Warne bowling on Day 5 of any Test match, but 4-49! Gotta watch the highlights on BBC Two tonight!


Warney sovenirs a stump!
(Source: News.com.  http://www.news.com.au/)

Pietersen is OUT!

Fourth ball of the day and Pietersen is out! (Pietersen c Martyn b Lee 92)

The tail is opened up. Let's hope Gabba won't be bothered with rain today.

England 347/8

Jones' out. Giles' out.

Com'on. Finish them up! I wanna go to bed!

Australia 602/9d & 202/1d vs England 157 & 0/0 (0.0 ov)

England is about to play! I think this first Test is ours! :)

For those who don't know much about cricket, this seems to be a good link.

http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ABOUT_CRICKET/EXPLANATION/CRICKET_EXPLAINED_AMERICAN.html

Watching the World Cup in Prague

It was the third-place playoff for the World Cup when we were in Prague (and yes, we missed the final as we were on a plane!).

Due to the country's proximity to Germany (vs Portugal), there were lots of German fans. We watched part of the game in the old town square. The atmosphere was great. Every time someone was close to scoring, the crowd would cheer!

I wish I was in Germany watching it live from the stadium! It would be amazing, though not necessary affordable! (One of my collegue actually paid more than 300 pounds for a ticket for the third-place playoff!)

Where is my French housemate?

I haven't seen him since France lost at the World Cup finals.

I'm worried.

Update (11/07/06 11:19pm): He is back. But I have yet to speak to him :(

GER 0 - 2 ITA

2 amazing goals in the last 5 minutes! Italy is off to the World Cup final!

I will be watching tomorrow's game with my French flatmate. He gets a little emotional about the game. If I didn't write after tomorrow, please call the police for me :P

For now, enjoy some 'best soccer moments':

http://www.joga.com/VideoView.aspx?videoId=-6247272780250291395

Socceroos are out of the World Cup! :(

I was listening to the game on the car radio. And my heart sank when I heard the penalty being awarded just seconds before the match was due to end.

It was not a good way to exit the game. Anyway, I think Australia has done well to get this far.

World Cup in England

UK is a football-mad country. The people give full support of their national team and they genuinely believe they are going to win the world cup!

It is not uncommon to see people flying the St George's Cross flag in London. Still, I was a bit surprised when I see the flag 'set-up' in a local housing estate. It looks like a fete!



These people must be very proud of their country.

England is playing Ecuador tonight. I sincerely hope they will win, as I don't want a riot in my neighbourhood! :P

CRO 2-2 AUS

Australia is through to the knock-out phase! Next match is against Italy.

I just realise that there is this new song for the Socceroo. Does anyone have the link to it?

 

AUS 0-2 BRA

Australia did try hard. But Brazil is difficult to beat.

At least they did better than 'my' team (Serbia & Montenegro) against Argentina!

AUS 3-1 JPN

Everyone in the office is laughing at me for getting excited over it!

:)

Dragon Boat Racing

I went dragon boat racing yesterday with my department's social club. It was the first time I'm involved in watersports, as I can't swim (I can float, but am not fit enough to swim more than 20m. hahaha). The secretary assured me that there will be lifejackets, so I decided to give it a go. I came to UK to experience the world, so why not?

The race took place at the Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre. The turn-out rate was rather low, but the weather was perfect for rowing and it turned out quite well.


The teams, listening carefully to the instructors

We were put into three teams of 7-8 and two teams race at one time. Our team got to rest for the first match, which co-incide with the creation of the tab at the bar.

Naturally, with some influence of alcohol, we were all hyped-up for our first race and we won the match rather easily. We were so tired though.

The winner from the first race happens to be our next competitor so we convinced the instructors to hold the finals straight away. Lazy us!

The most important thing with dragon boat racing is that the team must be well-coordinated. We didn't have enough people to have a drummer, but luckily, one of my team member has a really loud voice (which could be heard from the bar more than 250m away) and we were able to keep the rhythm.

We won the match quite easily again. It wasn't even a close match. We all rowed really hard and our boat was so fast. I didn't realise that dragon boat could be that fast! Now I'm living the consequence as my whole body is so sore.


The finishing line. The competitor's boat is not even in the photo!

O, did I also mention that one of my team member is the coach of the British rowing team?  :P


The Champions

We had a great barbeque after the races. There were seafood, steaks, really yummy mushrooms etc.. and continuous flow of alcohol. The bar is pretty good and there were lots of choices. We didn't get trashed though, as we still have to go to work today. I'm sure the chance will come. hehe


More information:

The Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre
http://www.dswc.org/