of course they'll let him back in. how long til the next scandal?

apparently he's developed a new delivery. yikes.

be afraid, be very afraid.

West Indies all out for 47

............England win by 10 wickets after West Indies lowest ever Test score

Batting at Kalgoorlie, Australia, in the 1970s cricketer STAN DAWSON was hit by a delivery which ignited a box of matches in his pocket. As he tried to beat down the flames, he was run out.

Thorpe 119 not out............'good knock' as they say

helped by great support from the tail aqua. seeing off gayle before close of play was a bonus too. tomorrow will be one of the most important days in english cricket since 1981.

..........and three guesses who's on a late shift and will miss it

i'll be missing it too. after witnessing an important promotion fixture at ashton gate i have to go to sister-in-law's birthday party where it will probably be considered bad form to plonk myself in front of the tv

We both I assume, unless you managed to sneak away, missed a Hoggard hat-trick and a historic victory.

how about lara's 400? wow. good for him!

I hope this is on topic

Does anyone know of a vocal that defines cricket along the lines of ....

"The first team goes in until they are out and the team that was out goes in."

I heard it a long time ago but have never been able to find it ....

Sorry Mr Alberr, don't know the vocal bit but was it something like this ? http://w3.execnet.com/lrs/Humor/Cricket.htm

Thanks Aquaman, that's very much like it and I guess a classic bit of humorous prose known to many, ('cept old buffers like me!). I'm sure I heard it with a reggae backing and an exagerated Afro Caribbean vocal but I don't trust my own memory too much these days ...

Germany ... America ... Scotland!

Oh, well. If that's the way it must be. And you'll probably win, too (you out-levelled me! Or did your uncles write it back?) - at least, until ... !

Well, I appreciate we were the last to go, I was touched by the fraternal feeling, and I love you, and will be beside you until then, I promise.

Althou' now might be a good time to mention that the mother I take after refers to herself as English, and she's right. I always dismissed it as something a duck like her would say, until my late twenties, when I could discern it myself.

But how much time's that gonna get me?!

Thanks very much for all the effort you put into me!

Rav.

PS. It was an Englishwoman, taking after her Dad, who broke my heart - Emily Dodds (really, she'd be after any late line), but her mother, who of course it suited me to assume was part-Italian or something, told her I was mad.

Talk about bowling a googly!

274 to win

And we did it!
You have to give credit to Hussein for getting us there, even if he did cause a Geoff Boycott worthy run out earlier in the day!
Can't wait for next Thursday (and the next test)!

I've got some kiwi mates that aren't gonna be to happy today

must admit that i had never thought much of strauss before this week, now it's a case of who we drop to accomodate him. until nasser's century he must have been twitching over his place, so i would wager an uncomfortable few days for either butcher or tresco.

Good luck to Nasser, sorry to see him go though.

Looking exciting for the last day today

England win by 9 wickets

Just got home from Trent Bridge after watching what turned out to be the last day of the England V NZ Test Match

You lucky bugger!

I'm very jealous - wish I could have been there. Instead I had to console myself with listening to it on TMS while digging in the garden!

such was the excitement of the test that i missed the first half of the croatia v switzerland game, mind you i also missed the end of the test as i was taking the good lady to work.

I turned the swiss game over to watch the outcome as well.
Croatia and swiss were hardly inspiring unlike Thorpe and even Giles!!

PS On the county front, we need to get off the foot of the league Mo

I'm off to edgbaston for the first couple days of the next test. Anyone else on here going?

My mum is almost eighty and wants to kick Vaughans arse..
She's not best pleased with his behaviour which, she say's, was the sole reason for Key's dismissal.
Now I didn't see the matcch or the incident but the BBC sports page says just this
My mum says Vaughans dithering was appalling and Key was hung out to dry by the captains incompetence.

What's the story guys?

Just read Jonathan Agnew's view. Looks like the experts are putting it down to Key being a victim of tactics.

We one another test match - and fairly conclusively too!
Now what is going on - this just isn't cricket! We're supposed to lose!

Not since Vaughan became captain,we're not.!!

Third in the world test rankings.

Second on current test form.

Bring on the Aussie's.

sarah, we are probably the second best side in the world at the minute, and we aren't too far behind the aussies.

martyn, i didn't see the incident on sunday. but if the england captain and the best batsmen of his era had sacrificed his own wicket to save someone who has only made one score in tests so far at a time when quick runs were the order of the day then there would have been a far longer queue to kick mr vaughan's arse. i would probably have been at the front of it.

Well good start to the second test in the series. It looks like the West Indies will be a bit more disciplined despite their complete loss of control in the first hour of the match. I think this is Anderson's chance to shine. He really needs to put in a good performance in this test match.

I thought that Vaughan called the run (it was his call), but Key was ball watching. Vaughan started running and hestitated when Key didn't make the run. That's when Vaughan ran him out - I don't think he would have made it back to the crease. I did hear one of the commentators say that the only way of making it more certain that you're re-selected than scroring a double century is getting run out by the captain!

278 - 5 and Flintoff looks like he's take his time for once (28 off 50 balls) - I do hope so! Its all very well him doing his Farmer impression during one day games but when he goes out there and hits out on the 1st day of a test, well it really annoys me.

Still, you gotta love the old pie boy!

313-5 at close of play. Not decisive, but i think pretty good for England. I reckon a first innings total of anything above about 370 has got to be competative considering that the Windies are batting last.

Done it again! That's the 5th test this summer and something like 7 out of the last 8 (or 8 out of 9) that we've won. Really impressed by the performance of the team as a whole - Man of the Match could have gone to two or three players.

I'm also really excited as I'm going to cricket with my parents for my mums birthday in a couple of weeks. We're going to see Somerset Vs Hampshire in Taunton and it'll be the first time I've watched my boys (Hants) for 2 seasons.
I can't wait!!

I think we might just win this test in three days with an innings to spare! Its like the Windies have given up even trying now, really sad to see what has become of such a legendary team...

fuck 'em. i've waited years to see this. they were ruthless with us in the 70's and 80's we are just giving some back.

I know what you mean but at least we gave them a game in the 70's and 80's and there were world class players on both sides (as a Hampshire lass I grew up in awe of Malcolm Marshall).

The current WIndies team are quite pathetic and that does take the edge of the victory for me - its like winning a fight against a child.
Some of the fielding (and keeping) has been abysmal - there were 40 odd extras in our innings, 19 of them No Balls.
19 No Balls in 1st Class Cricket? I think thats totally unacceptable!

Now you lot now how Australia has felt in the Ashes over the last 10 years .

we did no such thing, we went 29 tests without beating them and between '84-'88 lost 14 out of 15. and i don't recall too many close finishes either.

I still don't take much pleasure out of beating a team that had clearly given up (I felt for Viv Richards on TMS, he was struggling to contain his disgust)
Lets hope we take the fantastic effort the team has made this Summer (I don't want to belittle the achievement - they're all heros in my eyes) and capitalise on it over the next 12 months.
If we continue to play as a team in the way we are, we'll certainly give the Aussies a decent game!

WELL............crikey, another 1 day Test victory over India and batting first........Is this unusual ??


Umm..........yes it is actually

India 204 all out.



England 68 for 6

Oh dear, it's all going a bit horribly wrong

A brave loss, but 2-1 in the series!

Missing Freddie F I think.....

A victory today over Zimbabwe by 152 runs in the one day (OK, two due to rain) International.

Australia romped to a nine-wicket victory over USA after bowling the minnows out for just 65 at a chilly Rose Bowl.

The best against the worst - hardly cricket really!

" Oh...........My Dear Old Thing "