Off we go again!
This time I’m off to Kuala Lumpur to officiate in the tri-series between India, Australia and the West Indies.
I board the Emirates flight from Birmingham which is relatively uneventful until we get close to Dubai . I have had some of their lovely food on the plane, watched Mission Impossible 3 with Tom Cruise which was OK and were getting ready to land in Dubai when we were told that there would be a diversion due to. We diverted to Abu Dhabi which was only about 20 minutes flying time away from Dubai where there was no fog and glorious sunshine.
1 hour 30 minutes later we finally got the all clear to fly to Dubai, we landed, went through security and had about an hours wait in the lounge before boarding a flight to Bangkok and then onto Kuala Lumpur. I was meant to meet up with Mark Benson -the elite panel umpire from England- whilst in Dubai but there was no sign of him so I assumed that he’d got caught up in the fog problem and missed the connection to Bangkok. Anyway I couldn’t worry about that as I had a plane to catch and a tournament to attend.
The flight to Bangkok was 6 hours but I was told, just after we took off that I would miss my connecting flight with Malaysian Airlines when we get to Bangkok because we are running 2 hours behind schedule. There was nothing I could do until I got to Bangkok so I wasn’t going to worry. I sat next to a lovely Australian couple who were just returning home after a safari holiday in Africa. They were cricket fans and were very interested in my trip to Malaysia and obviously very interested in the upcoming Ashes series, as most people in the cricket world are!
I watched a film called End Game which starred Cuba Gooding Jnr. It was a very good a thriller. That filled 90 minutes and before you knew it we were landing in Bangkok.
I was greeted by an Emirates representative who confirmed that I had missed my connecting flight and that they were going to put me up for the night in a local hotel. The next flight to KL was not until 12pm the next day. Oh dear I thought, I was already running late because of staying in Nottingham to watch my son, Stuart play for England at Trent Bridge and now I had a further delay which meant I wasn’t going to arrive in KL until late afternoon the day before the 1st match! I informed the ICC of the delay and also the tournament director in KL, there wasn’t much more I could do until I reached KL. The next problem I had was that Emirates had somehow managed to leave my golf clubs back in Dubai and again there wasn’t another flight coming in to Bangkok until after I’d left to go to KL the next day so I had to fill in the obligatory left luggage form giving a description of what the bag looked like and then left the airport for the Amari Airport Hotel.
I managed to get a reasonable nights sleep and had a hearty breakfast in the bustling hotel and no sooner had I finished eating than it was time to head off to the airport for my flight to KL. The flight left exactly on time which was a first - there is a golf course right in the middle of the 2 busy runways of Bangkok International Airport . There were 4 holes going out and 4 holes coming back with the rest of the course lying right underneath the flight path. I would need earplugs to play that course, but very unique I suspect!
KL is the most beautiful place, so clean and tidy but hot and we are holding this tournament right in the middle of the monsoon season. We are staying in a beautiful hotel which has only been open for 2 months called the Traders Hotel right in the centre in KL. The famous Twin Towers are just outside my bedroom window and they are gloriously lit every night. There is a huge shopping mall just 10 minutes walk away and it’s not only got shops but loads of restaurants as well. I met up with all three of my umpires Asad Rauf from Pakistan, Tony Hill from New Zealand and Mark Benson who had missed the flight in Dubai. I managed to get a reasonable night sleep which was needed with a game coming up the next day.
12th September- game day.
Australia were playing the West Indies in the tournament opener. I went to the ground early to check on the facilities and aside from one or two teething problems all looked well for a good game. The teams arrived at 12.30pm for a 2.30pm start. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. I won’t go into too much detail except to say that West Indies were cruising the game until they had a late order collapse of 7 wickets for about 27 runs, something they won’t be proud! But as the game finished and Australia won my day was just beginning!
Ricky Ponting was charged with ‘dissent at an umpire’s decision’. Now the game finished at 10pm, by the time I’d written out the charge sheets and informed the player and his manager it was 10.45pm. The meeting was held at 11pm and lasted about half an hour, and then there was all the paperwork that needed to be done and the emails to be sent and in some cases re-sent. All in all I didn’t get to bed much before 1.30am and I was ready for sleep at that time but could I switch off……..!
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