the Gabba for the first time in the mid-1980s. It was like the Queenslander, that classic kind of indigenous architecture. It felt like a sub-tropical cricket ground. The architecture was quite varied; these bizarre crenellations like the place had been built on the run. Back in the 1950s, apparently the place was so covered with barbed wire to keep the hoi polloi out of the members stand; the visiting cricketers called it the Belsen, not a politically correct reference at all. But it had a certain home-spun charm; you couldn't have been anywhere else in the world. Well, you could be in Melbourne; it feels like a Football Oval. JK: But at least there's the gladiatorial aspect at Melbourne. It feels like no matter where you are sitting, how far you are, you can still spit on a player, which is what I like about Melbourne. I want to talk about one other thing. There's been a lot of talk in the India-England series about the fact that India won't let England face any spinners in the warm-up. It was quite interesting that South Africa who haven't really complained about this so much; Smith might have mentioned it at the first press conference but they arrived in Australia to prepare for a Test at the Gabba by going to the SCG, which is about the opposite. GH: They tried to get it changed, didn't they? But it was too little, too late. It was almost as though they hadn't paid