Tim Abraham's World Cup blog: Coffee shops, Pommie-bashers and local heroes

In the first of his World Cup blogs, Sky Sports reporter Tim Abraham arrives down under and encounters a familiar face - and some typical Aussie behaviour...

Just over a year since I left England's troubled Ashes campaign, I'm back in Australia.

The long flight is always tough, but 22 hours and a Singapore stop-off later I've reported for World Cup duty, taking over from my colleague James Cole who was with England every step of the way during the tri-series.

I'm joined by a newcomer to these overseas tours, live producer Simon Carpenter, and a trip to the World Cup is not a bad way to start.

I would have left it for a few days to send my first dispatch from Down Under, but it's been a pretty eventful first day and first few hours. Actually, make that minutes.

Our first duty upon landing was to pick up our hire car, and the ever-so-helpful man behind the counter made sure it was a smooth process after our long flight.

He couldn't resist a parting shot, mind you, as he wished me and England well - but not too well. The Pommie-bashing had begun immediately...

Familiar

We arrived at 7am local time and fought our way successfully through the rush hour traffic to our base at Bondi - a great location and handy for the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Once checked in the mission was to stay awake all day and fit straight in with Aussie time. Coffee can help with that, so once unpacked we went to a local shop to take in the surroundings and do a bit of people watching.

It was then I noticed a familiar figure crossing the road with his young family - none other that Shane Watson, often known as Watto in these parts.

I've done a fair bit with him down the years, so he came over to shake hands and say "g'day" and we had a quick chat. Nice guy.

It's good to be an Aussie cricketer these days, but during more troubled times he was so often the player who would front up.

A few hours in then, and we'd already been Pommie-bashed and had a quick yarn with an Aussie cricketer who'll no doubt play a key role in their bid to win a World Cup on home soil...

You can watch every match of the 2015 ICC World Cup live on our dedicated channel Sky Sports World Cup, starting with New Zealand against Sri Lanka from 10pm on Friday 13 February.

Before then don’t miss our World Cup Preview Show, with Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan, from 8pm on Friday on the same channel.