ADELAIDE DAY FOUR

MONDAY 6th DECEMBER

  For all those who wondered just who Steve Mansell was, well that was my deliberate mistake - and if you believe that you'll believe anything - it was in fact Nigel Mansell hiding under a pseudonym!  Another bus ride to the Oval this morning and we got much closer, only a relatively short walk from the bus stop.  Because of the rain stoppage yesterday, play started at 10.00am this morning.  We were there in plenty of time and managed to get exactly the same seats as yesterday.  England batted on and lost Pietersen relatively quickly but Bell and Prior blasted the total to within 17 runs of England's highest ever score in Australia when Strauss declared.  No wickets fell before lunch, but the afternoon session yielded three wickets, until the umpires took the players off for bad light.  Some ten minutes later the rain came down, but it only lasted about half an hour, and play was resumed at 4.55pm and play was extended until 6.00pm.  Clark and Hussey however played well and denied England further success.  After bowling fome 30 odd overs for two wickets Swan was taken off and Pietersen came on in his place.  In the last over of the day Cook caught Clark at short leg, but the umpire didn't give him out, and then referred the decision to the third umpire.  And yes, he was given out!  Showers and a possible thunder storm are forecast for tomorrow and England have six more wickets to get.  The result is in the hands of the weather.

  Listening to the radio commentary, there is the Bradman end and the cathedral end of the ground,  so named because of the Bradman pavilion at one end,

and the cathedral behind the other end.

We walked across the Murray River and past the Festival Hall, where we have have missed the Guitar Festival, and on back towards the town centre to catch the 174 bus.  A bit of packing in readiness for the morrow, and it's time to go and eat.

We walked past some of our watering holes, such as the Oyster Bar, P.J. O'Briens and the Stag for the last time and eventually found the Belgian Beer Bar where we opted for Roo steaks accompanied by Leffe beer. After half an hour there was still no sign of our meal and Mark was pointedly staring at the waitress.  She eventually came over apologised for the delay and offered us a discount and free chips!  The discount worked out at 30% and the chips were really excellent, so all told it was worth the wait.  For old times sake we popped into the Stagg for a couple of Peronis - this time they tried to charge $14 for the two but Mark was having none of it and we duly got them for the members' price of $12.