BARMY ARMY ASHES DIARY: PART II - DAVE THE SEXY SAX AND THE HOPE DELUSION

England fan Chris Millard takes The Cricketer inside the Ashes

Take out a digital subscription with The Cricketer for just £1 for the first month

England's Barmy Army are among the most famous travelling fan groups in world sport and this year they have flocked to Australia in their droves for the Ashes series.

Chris Millard is one of the collective's longest-serving members and he's sharing his experiences of his time Down Under with The Cricketer throughout the tour.

Here's part two of Chris's diary...


It’s been another eventful week with the Barmy Army, even if we didn’t get the result we all wanted in Adelaide.

We touched down in the city a couple of days before the Test and everyone was really positive. We accepted we lost in Brisbane - because we always lose in Brisbane - but there were signs there that we didn’t deserve to lose by 10 wickets.

With the forecast as it was for Adelaide, and with it being a day-night Test, we were very confident going into it.

The pre-Test party in the Backyard Bar of the Adelaide Casino was absolutely fantastic. It was electric. People were swanning in from all over the place to sing songs and have a bit of fun.

It was a little bizarre the next morning, waking up and thinking ‘let’s crack on with it’. We got to HQ and were five hours early for the start of play. There were definitely a few sore heads before the first session had finished!

The atmosphere was great and the media attention was really good.

We’ve lost Billy, our trumpet player, because he’s had to go home to look after the latest member of his family - his newborn baby son. He had to fly home and we’re flying him back out for Melbourne and Sydney, when the boys will need him.

The Barmy Army were in good voice in Adelaide

We desperately needed a replacement so myself and Dave did a radio interview on the morning of the first Test - a call to arms for Australian saxophone or trombone players - and up turns Dave the Sexy Sax.

He’s an Aussie guy, a big guy and an even larger character. We taught him how to do Jerusalem, asked him to learn a few other tracks and there he was on day one, walking over the bridge with us to the stadium.

He attracted major media attention and he was playing his saxophone with 200 or 300 passionate English fans behind him singing along.

Joe won the toss and he chose to bowl. We really like Joe’s bravery as a captain, and I speak on behalf of the Barmy Army when I say that. We like how Joe’s willing to take a risk and obviously that was taking a risk.

We were right behind him. If it comes off then amazing, what a great guy; if it doesn’t, well done for being a brave captain.

From ball one we were pumped up for it but unfortunately there was no big action or big drama on day one. We were hoping for a 10-wicket roll-over by dinnertime but that never happened.

Shaun Marsh demolished us on day two and looked quality. I couldn’t help but feel the lads were bowling too short and didn’t really understand why they were doing that.

They set that massive total and the mood when that total was set was very, very gloomy.

There was one comment behind me saying “the Ashes was lost on day seven, well at least that’s one day later than 2013”.

Going into day three we were feeling pretty worried.

We went to have a few beers at dinner time - which we always do, to get some proper strength beer and some decent food which you can’t get inside the stadium.

Dave the Sexy Sax joined the Barmy Army

They water down the beer, which is a little gripe for the Barmy Army but the Aussies still manage to get really drunk on it.

In the last session we thought “if there’s every a chance we can help the team it’s now”. That’s when we sung as loud as we could. We were right behind the boys and the response of Broady and Joe was great.

They were turning to us and revving us up, and we took the four wickets including the big one of Smith, which was hilarious.

He’s a tremendous talent but it’s great to get him out and get one up on him.

On day three night we had our charity party with John Emburey and we had 300 or 400 people there raising money for the PCA Benevolent Fund. There was a positive buzz again.

Is there a late twist in this Test match?

We raised over $11,000 between that party and the Beefy Brunch we did the following morning, which is a brilliant effort.

On day four, we wandered down to the ground thinking “this really could be one of the great days of Test cricket”.

It started well and got better and better and better.

Day-night cricket is so exciting. I’ve noticed over the past few days that it’s not got a great rep with the English supporters but blimey it’s exciting.

The final session on day four, when we were batting and Joe and Malan were in, and Smith used up his final review, might have provided one of the funniest experiences in any of my tours.

Whenever the ball hit the pads, or even off a forward defensive, 500 Barmy Army were on their feet and making the review sign. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer team.

Malan really impressed me. You’ve come to expect it of Joe, who is an unbelievable cricketer, but Malan was excellent in keeping the runs ticking over and getting on top of the Aussies.

Once we’re on top of them, they’re not this incredible side. We can beat them.

Leaving day four, everyone was under the same illusion. This could be one of the greatest days of English Test cricket ever… if the impossible is pulled off.

We had a right old session back in the pub because we thought “wow, this is on”.

Our diarist Chris Millard loves day-night Test cricket

We’re always there to hope and think we’ll achieve the impossible. Sometimes hope is all we’ve got and we certainly had it that night.

Waking up in the morning, I had five or six texts off the Barmy Army lunatics - the singers and the diehards - who said they couldn’t sleep last night.

There was a bizarre sense of belief.

We were in the ground and singing from noon on day five, Dave the Sexy Sax was back in and we’d turned him into a British citizen - he was playing Jerusalem and loving it.

We were primed to sing Bon Jovi when we were nearly halfway there… but then we lost Chris Woakes.

When Joe went, everyone knew then that maybe we had been a little deluded. But we continued to support the lads.

What should be noted is the Aussies came over after the game to sign autographs and have pictures with all of us - even Nathan Lyon and David Warner. Fair play to them… but it won’t mean we’ll be going any easier on them in Perth.

I’m pretty confident, and so are the rest of the lads, that the most famous 3-2 victory is on the cards.

MORE FROM THE CRICKETER: Gatting and Hussain wave goodbye to the WACA

LATEST NEWS

STAY UP TO DATE Sign up to our newsletter...
SIGN UP

Thank You! Thank you for subscribing!

Units 7-8, 35-37 High St, Barrow upon Soar, Loughborough, LE128PY

website@thecricketer.com

Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.