LONDON, Dec 9: Members of the Barmy Army travelling supporters’ group which follows the England cricket team have put the spice back into the Ashes by ordering a curry delivery from back home to go all the way out to Australia.

Staff at the Mumbai Nights Indian restaurant in Bath, southwest England, were bowled over when they received the order from a curry-starved England fan watching the Ashes against Australia — where the tourists are 2-0 down in the best-of-five series.

But chefs were certainly not stumped by the crazy request. The restaurant is to make the 18,000-mile round trip to take the poppadoms, parathas and pilau to Perth in time for what will, despite the series scoreline, now be a mouth-watering third Test next week.

Manager Nasir Abdul, 29, and his business partner Raj Miah will fly out Sunday to deliver the 1,500-pound order to the 10 hungry cricket fans seemingly in a hurry for a good curry.

“It's certainly a strange place to deliver -- there's only New Zealand and the Antarctic that are any further,” said Abdul. “With the flights and accommodation included it's going to work out at about 150 pounds per head.

“Of course if they ate it at the restaurant here in Bath it would only cost 12-14 pounds.”—AFP