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James McCollum Scorching In The Adelaide Sun

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Waringstown’s James McCollum is spending the winter at the Darren Lehman Academy in Adelaide. It may be winter in Ireland but it’s most certainly summer in Adelaide as James has been training and playing in 40 degree heat in Australia. This hasn’t impacted on his form and last weekend James took in the 2nd Ashes test.
It’s been a hectic couple of weeks since my last entry. Scorching sun, plenty of club cricket and an unforgettable 5 days of Ashes cricket.

Saturday 25th saw our 2nd grade take on Southern Districts in a 2 day game. Having won the first innings comfortably chasing 156, I finished on 17* and returned bowling figures of 8-3-9-1. We were then set a target of 130 for the outright win in the second innings with 17 overs remaining on day 2. I managed to get us pretty close ending up on 63* but was unable to get us over the line with the team falling a tantalising 3 runs short on 127-9.

After the weekend followed a South Australian heat wave – training 6 hours a day in 40 degree heat was definitely a first and anything but pleasant. In the thick of the dry heat the DLCA played a 40 over game game against the SA Academy; we fielded a strong team but again failed to get over the line in a close game, losing by 4 runs chasing 190. I managed to top score with 48 opening the batting which was nothing but a small consolation. The next day Adelaide University 1st Grade had their annual inter-varsity T20 fixture against a strong Sydney University team who travel over every year for the Adelaide test match. I’d been rewarded with some decent form and was picked to open the batting. We managed to restrict them to 117 on what could only be described as a rather Irish wicket; I got out for 30 in the 5th over of our reply as we stumbled to 112-7 off our 20 in what was probably our poorest batting display of the season.

After a tough 10 days or so packed with training and games in the searing heat it was finally time for a weekends break and the much anticipated Ashes Test Match. The whole city was buzzing with thousands of English supporters and the notorious barmy army were in full flow throughout the pockets of British pubs in Adelaide. It felt like a home away from home; animated English chanting (reminiscent of my fresher days at Durham University) and a lot of familiar faces about Adelaide from the MCCU scheme who were playing club cricket throughout Australia and had flown in for the Test.

To see 5 days of Ashes cricket, a capacity Adelaide oval and the red skied South Australian sunset over the old scoreboard was something special to say the least. Although I started off supporting the Aussies, a couple of well earned beers later I’d been lured in by the Barmy Army and their raucous rendition of Sweet Caroline. Unlike most of the other English lads in the academy I remained relatively unconcerned about the result but needless to say we thoroughly enjoyed our weekend off. It’s now back to the grind for another 2 weeks of hard work.
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