We\u2019re 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\u2019s a long drive but we made it a boys\u2019 trip, stopping in at pubs and all that nonsense on the way.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
You simply couldn\u2019t stay in the stands \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
Before long, a bloke who was quite obviously a member of the Barmy Army \u2013 England\u2019s travelling support squad \u2013 came up to me and asked if I was OK. I explained that the sun had me feeling crook and he didn\u2019t miss a beat with his response.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got some seats in the shade. Want to come sit with us?\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
I was so touched that a stranger would go to that trouble. I\u2019m clearly Australian \u2013 I had my Adelaide cricket cap on \u2013 but that Pommy bloke still lent a hand to someone from the opposition.<\/p>\n
Without that act of kindness, I would have had to leave early and miss seeing Travis Head<\/a> make that incredible century. What a game that was, and what a wonderful gesture from a sworn supporter of our sporting rivals.<\/p>\n What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?<\/p>\n Share your experience<\/p>\n What’s the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?<\/p>\n From making your day to changing your life, we want to hear about\u00a0 chance encounters that have stuck with you.\u00a0<\/p>\n Your responses, which can be anonymous, are secure as the form is encrypted and only the Guardian has access to your contributions. We will only use the data you provide us for the purpose of the feature and we will delete any personal data when we no longer require it for this purpose. For alternative ways to get in touch securely please see our tips guide<\/a>.Show more<\/p>\n If you\u2019re having trouble using the form click here<\/a>. Read terms of service here<\/a> and privacy policy here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re great enemies in cricket, England and Australia. So when the Ashes returned this past summer, my son…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-527117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}