Twelfth man duties

Its crunch time on the morning of the third and final test match here in Sri Lanka. The day has started late due to the arrival of the seasonal monsoon rains and hopefully they will stay away long enough for us to win this match and take the series.

The tour has not been short of its moments of controversy and Neil McKenzie’s decision seemed to stir it up a bit again. There’s no doubt that Neil was out, he clearly nicked it to second slip, but the umpire showed doubt in calling for the third umpire for what appeared to be a bum ball. Our feeling was that the umpire should not have referred for that kind of decision and we felt the response from the Lankan dressing room and the crowds may have swayed his decision to give Neil out.

Once again Zulu came into some runs with an unbeaten 95 and it was a great pity that he couldn’t cap it and the tour off with another 100.

Looking back at the second test match, the team showed great spirit and fought back really well in Kandy and this win has lifted and motivated us to finish off strongly.

As from the twelthies point of view, the test victory was really something special as it made all the hard work and effort that us off-the-field blokes put in worthwhile. During the test matches, the twelthies work in pairs and each pair has a day off from the cricket to be able to sight see or chill out at the hotel or shop for the last minute bargain.

The three hour bus trips to and from Kandy will not be forgotten in a hurry. Even on a bad day in the traffic back home, it does not compare to the traffic woes here in Sri Lanka. Now I know the meaning of a James Bond martini; shaken not stirred, due to the stop start nature of bus travel here on these roads.

I’ve stepped up my training in preparation for the Aussie leg of the tour. It’s never easy or fun when you’re not playing and you have to train to stay in shape. However, with the help of the other guys and the Fizz these sessions seem to be achieving the desired results. I also have a net each lunchtime with Fordie in- doors to get used to the pace and bounce and thus try and get accustomed to what may be expected in Aussie.

We had the arrival of another batch of girl friends late on Saturday night along with Ken Jennings, the team’s psychologist. Guys like Bouchie and Jacques and Polly are a bit scarcer now that their other halves are here and as for me, Leanie arrives in Melbourne on the 14th and stays in until the end of the Singapore leg.

We’ve heard that the support for the team has been very positive and supportive back home and we aim to continue in this way and give the country some more victories to cheer about.

This is Andrew Hall signing off for CricInfo.

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