Emirates Australian Cricket Team Reception

“There you go mate” said Ricky Ponting in typically Aussie style as he handed the ICC World Cup over to the Cricket Australia Chairman, Creagh O’Connor.  Job completed.

These few words pretty well summed up the feeling in the Members Dining Room at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday morning, where Emirates hosted the first Team Reception for the men in green and gold.

Well actually, they were all in suits and looking remarkably well after their long trip home! The atmosphere was relaxed; there were smiles all around, with Ricky Ponting, Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist each giving a brief speech during this special Emirates breakfast function.

The Prime Minister joined the team for breakfast and gave a ‘welcome home, well done, we are all proud of you’ speech to the assembled guests.

The actual trophy was standing about as straight as the tower of Pisa after its journey home – the mole suspects that some players were perhaps wanting to hold on to the trophy longer than other team-mates thought appropriate whilst in transit.

Ponting offered a theory involving baggage handlers for its less than straight stance! He  thanked Cricket Australia and the whole support team for the World Cup campaign, and particularly complimented  retiring Australian coach John Buchanan.

Glenn McGrath spoke about how happy he has been being part of the Australian Team.  The two things he will miss the most are one, the feeling of how special it is being involved with such a great team and two, the celebrations afterwards!  McGrath also shared one of his ‘special moments’, 61 with the bat…

McGrath reckons that he will have the time to actually sit back and think about everything, now that he has retired from international cricket – it will be interesting to see if  that eventuates!

McGrath highlighted two guiding principles he has always followed and I think they apply equally in the world of travel and tourism:

** Continually challenge yourself

** Always do your very best for the team

Adam Gilchrist then followed up by saying that he was thrilled to take the final catch in McGrath’s career, and that when McGrath was bowling he had “The best seat in the house”.

Gilchrist spoke of how great it was to be involved in both that final dismissal, and for being part of three World Cup campaigns.  He also paid homage to Matthew Hayden for inspiring the team to reach for his high standards.

Gilchrist also brought some perspective to the most recent campaign by saying that there are always issues around tournaments, however, these will never diminish the achievement of the result.

Despite some prompting, the unwritten sporting rule of ‘what goes on tour, stays on tour’ was upheld, however Gilchrist did say that there was a lot of talking after a campaign like the World Cup.  Looking at Andrew Symonds, Gilchrist said “We talk long and hard, don’t we Roy?!”

As part of its commitment to Australia, Emirates is involved in a number of significant sponsorships, none more high profile than the Australian Cricket Team.  Emirates is sponsoring the Aussie team for the next three years and are looking forward to building a strong ongoing partnership.

Emirates already sponsors the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) elite panel of umpires and match referees for all Test and One Day International matches, establishing Emirates as a long-term partner of international cricket.

Stephen Pearse, the Vice President Commercial, Australia, welcomed the team back to Australia and spoke of Emirates’ proud association with Cricket Australia.  Pearse expressed his admiration for the leadership of Ricky Ponting and for the whole Australian team, who he described as the very best in the world.

Once the formalities were over, a buffet breakfast was enjoyed by all.  Two further moments are worth relating – During the actual breakfast, cricket highlights were shown on a big screen at one end of the room. Glenn happened to look up when his boyhood photos were up for all to see and he and his teammates had quite an exchange – but not in words!

But the final thought has to be how ‘Australian’ it all was – even John Howard lined up with his plate for brekky before sitting down and talking with the Australian Captain!

Report by The Mole