We’re great enemies in cricket, England and Australia. So when the Ashes returned this past summer, my son and I travelled from Ballarat to Adelaide to see the showdown in the third Test. It’s a long drive but we made it a boys’ trip, stopping in at pubs and all that nonsense on the way.
It was a great start to the essential cricket pilgrimage. The problem was when we got to the Adelaide Oval, the temperature was a gruelling 40C. Worse still, by the middle of the day, the sun was beaming directly on to our seats. There was no shade and no reprieve.
You simply couldn’t stay in the stands – as the sun hit, everyone around us began streaming out to hide out in the bar. I suffer from vertigo and when the heat triggered an attack, I had no choice but to abandon my seat and seek cover by the exit. I sat down on some shaded stairs to catch my breath and resigned myself to missing the game.
Before long, a bloke who was quite obviously a member of the Barmy Army – England’s travelling support squad – came up to me and asked if I was OK. I explained that the sun had me feeling crook and he didn’t miss a beat with his response.
“We’ve got some seats in the shade. Want to come sit with us?”
He and a mate from the UK had brought their young sons to Australia to see the Ashes and had wound up with a couple of spare seats.
I gratefully took them up on the offer and we spent the rest of the day with these blokes, striking up a great friendship and buying each other beers. They were terrific, as were their kids.
I was so touched that a stranger would go to that trouble. I’m clearly Australian – I had my Adelaide cricket cap on – but that Pommy bloke still lent a hand to someone from the opposition.
Without that act of kindness, I would have had to leave early and miss seeing Travis Head make that incredible century. What a game that was, and what a wonderful gesture from a sworn supporter of our sporting rivals.
What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
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