Sunday 28 February - ODI at the new Perth Stadium

We got up early, had some leftover pizza for breakfast and headed off to the railway station. The cost of travel was included in our match ticket.

Language tip: An "Esky" is a cold/picnic box!

We were excited to arrive at the brand new Optus Stadium for its first match. We thought we were early but there were already quite a number of spectators waiting outside wearing Aussie shirts so we felt quite outnumbered.

Our bags were checked and we were in. We found our seats (Level 1 / Aisle 135 / Row 23 / Seats 5 and 6) which had a fantastic view of the playing area and were fully under cover. We could have been at least half a dozen rows further down (say to Row 17) and still been in full shade all day.  We were sitting next to a very knowledgeable former Zimbabwean Aussie fan. He soon pointed out that Kevin Pietersen was standing behind us trying to find his way to the media centre. He appeared as arrogant as ever.

England about to lose the toss with a friendly Aboriginal looking on

He's behind you!

Australia won the toss and decided to field. After a good start by England the wheels eventually came off and everyone felt that Australia would easily get the runs they needed to win.  

Plenty of room at the back of each section to get out of the sun

One of the food/drink stands - get what you want soon before they run out of stock!

The crowd of 53,781 clearly ate and drank more than expected as some outlets ran out of food and beer - criminal!

It's official: I'm old enough to buy a beer!

Of course, opinions on this can differ and anyway these are screw tops so you might hope that Aussies would know that you don't need an opener for them!

The first ever ball is bowled at the new Perth Stadium: Mitchell Starc to Jason Roy

The Barmy Army were in full song today!

We were near to the Barmy Army who were in fine voice. We also had the added entertainment of a very nimble streaker! 

Much to our surprise England bowled out Australia for 247 mainly thanks to some great bowling from man of the match Tom Curran and a magnificent catch from Moeen.

He got on to the "Dress Up Deck" for the second innings for being so well dressed

The stadium's first ever streaker!

Beer snake - the stewards confiscated them to loud boos

England players acknowledge the Barmy Army

The WACA in the background

There was a lot of fun banter between both sets of supporters and the atmosphere was great.  A fantastic experience.

Today (Monday) the local TV station has been picking over the teething problems from this first big test for Western Australia's prestigious new venue, said by the ICC to be the best cricket venue in the world.  It may be good for lots of people to get a good view of the action in relative comfort, but it is a sanitised experience.  For example, there's no pavilion and it's hard to see where players emerge from or disappear to.