Barmy Army gets a little bit of local help

ADELAIDE — England’s Barmy Army had a little bit of local help this week in Adelaide as they tried, fruitlessly as it turned out in the end, to cheer their team to victory in the second Ashes Test.

The rowdy but good-humoured camp followers have become a fixture on all England’s tours over the last couple of decades but the tour of Australia is the one that attracts the biggest numbers. When a regular member of the Army band had to return to Britain for personal reasons, though, the call went out for a trumpet or saxophone player to replace him.

Dave Zanchetta, as Australian as you like and from the nearby town of Port Elliott, answered the call and it was his saxophone that accompanied the songs of the travelling horde. —