| New Year
lifts spirits Monday, 31 December, 2001 South African batsman Neil McKenzie prepares to see in the New Year and hopes for a change of fortune in the Sydney Test. Hello again, this time from Sydney. Yes, we're back in this beautiful city for the third and final Test match of this tough tour of Australia. I hear that New Year's Eve in Sydney is normally quite good value and I'm looking forward to having a bit of fun with my teammates as well as my family and some friends who are in town. The single guys have organized entry to theEstablishment Bar around the corner from our hotel where we will see in the New Year. However, I plan to take in the early fireworks show in the Harbour at around 9.00pm and then make my way up to the bar afterwards to meet up with the other players. It's been good having the family over here with me for the last week in Melbourne and they have also come up to Sydney to take in the New Year Test. We all went out for a drink on Saturday night to drown our sorrows after losing the series and I took my sister, my brother and his fiancée along. We had really good support at the MCG for the second Test and it is sad that we did not put in a good performance for our followers and provide them with a win. Below par effort I saw Mark Andrews (current lock forward for the Natal Sharks and the Springboks) in the stands, along with a whole bunch of other SA supporters who were trying to outdo the Aussie crowd at what they do best - verbalising. It is pretty obvious to all of our fans around the world that we have played some ordinary cricket in the first two Tests. The Australians have shown quite clearly that they are the best team around at the moment and the way the have pressurised us, they deserve their number one status. It certainly is a different feeling to be on the losing side - the last series loss the SA side had was in England back in 1998. When I arrived in Sydney on Sunday, I was quite amazed at the amount of smoke that is hanging over the city as a result of the New South Wales bushfires. It seems that whenever SA tour Australia, they have bushfire problems and the guys who toured here on the 93/94 tour even played an extra match at the SCG to raise funds for the Bushfire Disaster Fund. In closing, I would just like to take this opportunity to wish all the readers and surfers of the BBC Sport Online website a very happy New Year. May all your goals and wishes for 2002 come true. Until the next time, this is Neil McKenzie from Sydney for BBC Sport Online. |