Around the World with Hardy(T)Around the World with Hardy(T)
Wellington. The Windy City. And boy,
was it wet and windy when I arrived. I'd been bumping into the occasional
English cricket fan on my journey down through the North Island, but I wasn't
quite prepared for what I found at the Wellington YHA - the place had been
completely taken over by the Barmy Army! The one or two American, German
or Japanese backpackers that had somehow managed to get a bed in the place
just looked on bemused as Union Jack clad Englishmen sad huddled round TVs
and newspapers desperate for team news or the prospects of play the next
day or, more likely, staggered back from one of Wellington's many excellent
pubs in the early hours of the morning.
It took a
while for the rain to clear on Day One, but after that there was only ever
going to be one winner. David Lloyd's ironic comment after the drawn First
Test - "We flippin' murdered 'em" - came emphatically true as
England took the lacklustre Kiwis apart. On the outer of the picturesque
Basin Reserve, the England fans were in suitable good voice, and chants
of "Ath-er-ton's Barmy Army" rang around the ground for the duration
of the game.
I met some real characters
at the game. Apart from "Aggers" (BBC Radio's Jonathan Agnew)
and the former Test umpire Dickie Bird, there was Lloyd the Welsh Fusilier
(above), who stood to attention on the grassy knoll for the entire match,
except when he was coaxed to the front to lead the Army in a rousing chorus
of Jerusalem or Rule Britannia. There was also Andy the mad, exiled Pompey fan, who introduced me
to the excellent Malthouse pub and its innovative "drink now, pay later"
scheme. 
Then there were Charlie Mellor and his wife Alison, normally
both police officers but, for the duration of the tour, self-styled leaders
of the Barmy Army - a role which entailed not only cheer-leading to the
extent that Charlie lost his voice every day, but also T-shirt selling,
drinking vast amounts of beer and becoming absolute media whores (only kidding!).
Wellington nightlife was very good too. It was a miracle that we ever got up in time for the cricket. There was a lot of fuss in the local press about the Kiwis being seen in city bars at 3am during the match. Your trusty newshound can report quite categorically that the allegations were quite untrue. It was easily 4am when we saw Chris "Poodle" Cairns leave one bar and about 4.30am when we saw him playing drums for a group of buskers on Courtenay terrace.
The post-match celebrations went on well into the early hours of the next morning. To be fair to the Kiwis, despite being outclassed, they were more than happy to go out for a few drinks with the English players and fans. Even Daniel Vettori, the 17-year-old debutant was seen in Molly Malone's, although he was, as required by law, accompanied by several 'responsible' over-21s. "Bumble" Lloyd was very forthright in his after match comments, especially when I told him Glenn Turner had said on TV that England were lucky to win; Tuffers couldn't remember where the next Test was being played, although he didn't seem to be having much trouble locating the bar; and I'll never forget Alec Stewart and Darren Gough's rousing rendition of Alouette, which was less than kind about Nasser Hussain's "pointy" head!
Believe me, the crossing of the Cook Straight the next day was not fun...