Not just a game for flannelled fools

Spotting a non-cricket star at a Test match is a thrill which provides sufficient justification to friends that the game is enjoyed by more than just flannelled fools. Band members from INXS and Powderfinger are welcomed into Australia's dressing-room like lost brothers, and cameras pan to Mick Jagger whenever he is at Lord's.

The same applies to other sports. When Steve Waugh led his team to the 2001 Wimbledon final, it excited Pat Rafter and thousands of itinerant Australians. Evonne Cawley, in a return gesture, is representing tennis at the Adelaide Oval.

Cawley won the Wimbledon women's singles title in 1971 as Evonne Goolagong, her Aboriginal name, and was successful again in 1980 after her marriage to Roger Cawley. Husband and wife have fallen in love with cricket since returning from the USA 12 years ago and sneak a few sessions in whenever their hectic schedules allow. They went to Australia v India at Brisbane last year and have enjoyed two days in the Sir Donald Bradman Stand watching New Zealand's travails.

Growing up in Barellan, a small country town in New South Wales, Cawley was told to hide under her bed whenever someone knocked unexpectedly at the door, something she later realised was to prevent her becoming part of the Stolen Generation. Cawley now hosts the Getting Started tennis programme for young girls, including many who have never played before, and next month hopes to take a group to the Australian Open.

Another celebrated guest at the ground is the acclaimed motivational speaker, Barry "Nugget" Rees. Nugget has no trouble attracting attention and is sometimes stopped more between the nets and the stands than the Test players he runs drinks for and gives team talks to. At 60, he has been dressing-room furniture since the days of Jim Burke, Colin McDonald and Les Favell.

"Sometimes the players get me to stand up on a table and give them motivational speeches, so I tell them to bowl line and length, keep concentrating and watch the captain's signals," he says. "Darren Lehmann is one of my favourites, but they are all my favourites."

Kitted out in spikes, whites and usually the Test cap of Barry Jarman, Nugget is adored at the Adelaide Oval and will have a lengthy hit in a post-Test match with the team. He may have to share the field when this game finishes, however, as Lehmann is earmarked to take on New Zealand's slowcoach, Mark Richardson, in the now-traditional "Sprint of the Snails".

A special lycra costume has been ordered for Lehmann, although he was hobbling on Saturday night after being struck at short-leg. And the view of Nugget, the Oval's A-list celebrity? "Darren can beat him."