Finally the day we had waited for. We awoke to no rain, but the forecast was ominous and there were reports that it had rained at Edgbaston for 14 of the last 17 days. Depending on who you listened to the ground was anything from heavily waterlogged to under water. Nevertheless we made an early start and got to the ground, retrived our tickets with no fuss and were soon through the queue into the ground - after not only the mandatory bag checks but also a body patdown for each patron entering the ground. By 10.30am the rain had started again, and it was obvious there would be no play for the first session. We sheltered as best we could for a while ; went through the Warwickshire CC museum; bought some Edgbaston clothing souveneirs (carefully avoiding anything with an England logo on it), and went back to our seats in between showers to chat to the locals. After a bit of lunch and further promises of a pitch assessment at 3pm we joined in what the locals had been doing since 10am, and had a pint. A few more followed as the afternoon ground on and finally there was the annou
ncement that play would start at 5pm and - weather permitting - we would get play until 7pm. It was an eye-opener to see the fervour of the crowd when play started. The air was full of football style chants and ditties, but unlike the humour of the Barmy Army at the WACA there was a bit of an edge to this and it was aimed at intimidating the Aussie players (as well as any Aussies in the crowd). The fact that Australia made quite a reasonable start kept things down a bit, but it was a great experience being there amongst all the noise. Public transport home was a bit strained with the volume of people, but we eventually got there and then got a taxi to an Indian Restaurant in Birmingham that someone had recommended to us. We were a bit subdued after all the action of the day, but it was an unforgettable experience.
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