the saint

I would have gone with Strauss. He's done a reasonable job this summer. Just seems to much for Flintoff to do everything.

And we are currently in serious danger of winning another!

ENGLAND IN ONE DAY INTERNATIONAL WIN SHOCKER!!!! About time too!

Stuart Clark did well against the Saffers though. For England, the key is Panesar. If he is bowling well, he can fill an end all day and allow us to rotate the other 3 main bowlers around him. Then we can take all our batsmen and play Flintoff at 7. A line up something like this: Trescothick (Assuming he is well) Strauss Cook Pietersen Collingwood Bell Flintoff Read Harmy Hoggy Monty If the Aussies get after Panesar then an extra bowler is required to avoid overstressing the seamers and then the problem of England's tail rears its head again.

And we are still sh1t at one-day cricket.

There is a difference between being rude and offensive and playing on someones mind. I don't condone rudeness, and I am not rude at the table, nor do I point out my opponent's errors (I make enough of my own), but I do believe in making my life difficult for my opponent in every way that is legal and moral at the table.

Perhaps we are all forgetting that at the very heart of this game is the human element. Some elements of the human psyche are more or less pleasant than others but they make us what we are. To be utterly ruthless one has to harness the darker side to give the opponent no route back. Hence witness Zia's aside to Brad Moss. I personally find this sort of thing fascinating and sometimes wish there was more of it. For all the wonder of vugraph, it is ultimately just symbols on a screen and it can resolve the drama down to a logic puzzle when the whole personality clash adds a vital dimension. The game can often do with a bit of personality and inter-personal edge to give it a bit of needle and zest. Many other sports rely on such things to up the adrenalin levels between competitors. There is a limit to what constitutes good/bad behaviour, but gaining a psychological edge and using it to your advantage is part of any sporting contest. Otherwise they might as well stick each competitor in their own hermetically sealed container before play starts. Maybe its because I grew up playing the game in an area where people wouldn't hesitate to use the same sort of tactics on me that I grew stronger through it and would relish the battle.

From what I understand (friend of a friend with the team), its a repitition of what we have seen several times before in Bridge. Pick a core squad, keep them together for a few years, work hard. Get the results at the end of it. This weekend I was helping at an Under 20 International between England, Scotland and Holland. We were using the deals from the 2003 Camrose match between Ireland and England. England won all 3 30 board matches, 2 of them by landslides. That took place 3 and a half years ago. The improvement has been palpable. Now Ireland look like the dominant force in the Camrose series.

You are all missing the big point. All those acronyms we were taught as school to remember the order. They just don't work now: Many Volcanoes Erupt Mulberry Jam Sandwiches Under Normal.... NORMAL WHAT? The education system will be in a state of total collapse (not that it isn't already you understand).

Whats the big deal? If opener had done something that indicated knowledge of the psyche and acted accordingly then there would be a case to answer. But he didn't. I fail to see what the fuss is about.

IMO, the laws of the game are the laws. The law may be an ass, and after this it will probably have to be reviewed to provide a balance (Pakistan do have a rightful grievance about being unable to defend themselves), but they did willingly refuse to play and in the opinion of the umpires they have a case to answer about ball tampering. Without doubt this whole matter could have been handled much better, but when the laws say a certain thing, you have to follow them. It is also worth noting that there were TWO umpires involved, who both agreed with each other - people seem to be forgetting Billy Doctrove too. Now from a cricketing standpoint I think they are both atrocious in terms of poor judgments on decisions (Aleem Dar is the best I have seen recently - was superb in the Sri Lanka series) but they have made a decision that they agreed on so the teams should observe it. Ironically, the one person I feel sorry for in all this is Inzy. Given the fractious nature of England-Pakistan cricket relations, his mild mannered approach has worked wonders, and the England fans really love the guy. As captain he is responsible for the conduct of his team, and I do hope for his sake that someone on his side wasn't doing anything behind his back. Cricket needs more Inzys.

No, I don't think we are angels. There was also the issue of 'boiled sweets' last year. And several English bowlers have been caught/admitted doctoring the ball in first class cricket. The difference is that the Pakistanis tend to make a bigger song and dance about it when they are fingered for it and blame everyone except themselves - or so it appears to me. The distinction people have to remember to make is that a reverse-swinging cricket ball is not a sign that the ball has been doctored - it is a naturally occuring phenomenon that takes great skill to exploit. It is when the ball's condition has been artificially altered to induce and hasten the arrival of said behaviour that the problems arise.

Although the Sky people say there wasn't any clear footage, there was a massive photo on the front page of the London Metro newspaper showing a Pakistani bowler playing with the quarter seam on the ball, taken a few minutes before the umpires called them for tampering. The plot thickens. And no, we didn't want to win this way.

England bat better. The enigma that is KP misses his ton playing his way - but we wouldn't change him! Harmy will have a back scan to sort out his problems. Anything else happen today? Oh yes the ball tampering scandal and now we wonder if there will be a fifth day!! Irrespective of whether its true or not, why is it always Pakistan?

I would be surprised if none were too. As I have said before, I have heard stories of pros taking various such substances although nothing concrete. IF there are no procedures against it, then you can't really blame them for doing it. I would like to see such things introduced, if only so Bridge can take itself seriously.

Not a chance that England are going to get the Aussies out in a single innings if Harmison keeps on bowling the way he did Friday. It was embarrassing. Maybe London puts a jinx on him. He doesn't like to bowl at Lord's, and we may hear the same about the Brit Oval soon. Roland Stupid thing is, in 2003 vs the Saffers and 2004 against the Windies he was absolute mustard. The Oval is quick and bouncy - Harmy should be flying there inflicting maximum pain on oppo batsmen. He can bowl well at Lords too, he was fantastic against the Aussies in the first test last year. He needs to spend the rest of the season at Durham bowling lots of overs in county cricket to get his rhythm going.

Quite the most turgid, depressing day. We were crap.

But I guess the live cricket update is acceptable! Paul Of course. In fact its a necessity. And its exactly what happened during the third test when everybody forgot their digital radios so we couldn't listen to TMS.

Not a coffee drinker although this is the kind of promotion that makes an impression on me. The WBF should take note when it comes to promoting bridge too!

Of the top seven, Trescothick is easily the most short of form at the moment. Given the choice I would drop Mahmood for Freddie too. Monty has shown that he can bowl extremely long economical spells against the best players of spin in the world (India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan) on some unfavourable pitches and still be attacking. Giles would not bowl as many overs per match and this negates the need to some extent for a 5th specialist bowler. Colly and KP might be able to step in in some capacity too. The obvious place where there will be a change is in Sydney which is traditionally a spinner's pitch, so both Giles and Monty will play there assuming they are both fit. As for the beard, I struggle to grow bum fluff so a falsey would have been my only option. It should be noted that my boss is my source of Test match (and ODI)tickets so riling him on cricket days is not an option!! Another change to your XI. Harmy bats at 9 ahead of Monty.

It is just amazing and all involved are to be congratulated. As people have mentioned, this is now the standard by which others will be judged. A few ideas on how the 'complete' experience may be possible. I think it was while watching a European Poker Tour event on TV that the commentary mentioned some of the technology that was coming into play. One thing that was mentioned was playing cards with chips in them to distinguish them from each other. The table then had sensors which could pick the cards up so players wouldn't have to show them to the tiny cameras that are now mounted on the tables. If such a thing were applied to bridge, then card play could be completely tracked and we wouldn't be left with incomplete play records and we might get a real-time feel for the players tempo. This might cut down the operator's workload or if a similar principle where able to be applied to the bidding mechanism, remove it altogether. It might also prove invaluable to directors and allow proper timing of teams speed of play when calculating slow play. I am in no way decrying the performance of the operators who are fantastic and deserve all the credit they get for performing such an involved task with the level of precision they do, I am just floating ideas on where the next generation of vugraph may go. It is also inevitable that cameras will be mounted on each table allowing TV/webcasting. No doubt this will be supplemented by live audio commentary from experts all over the globe. Exciting prospect isn't it!! In the meantime, I would just like to re-iterate how fantastic this show is and I hope to be available to commentate on a fw more matches!! Alan P.S. I'm having to time my visits to the internet machine at work very carefully so my boss doesn't see me on www.polbridge.pl all time time desperately catching up with the latest news!! If I still have a job at the end of these two weeks it will be a miracle!!

Well the 20/20 didn't quite go to plan... Still, I'm at the Oval on Friday for England finishing off Pakistan. Apparently it will be a celebration of beards, although I don't think my boss would be too impressed if I sat next to him with the full 'Monty'.

For definitive answers on questions regarding American and British English, I recommend this excellent blog - separated by a common language. Lynne, a Scrabble playing friend of my wife, has also written (on the Scrabble boards) that the Americans speak (and spell) the Old English of the Pilgrim Fathers, whereas we have been infected by the French. So who is really speaking English? Paul See, it was never the Islamic Fundamentalists trying to subvert us, it was the French all along!! As usual... (Please note, this comment is a joke, I love France and the French - most of them most of the time - and I am only writing this so yet another of my posts is not taken far too earnestly again when it did not merit it) Other comments on previous quotes: Trains are you mad? I commute and they do my head in! And did any of you know, I was on the same train the London 7/7 bombers took into London that day. Makes me feel safe!?!? Won't change though because then they win. Gerben and Helene are quite right.

I am a Rocket Scientist, and I can tell you - her grammar doesn't impress me much! Shania was always a 'turn the volume down, look at the pictures' singer anyway. She should be banned for crimes against music long before we start on her abuse of the English language!

In all seriousness, we have a certain amount of experience with security following on from years of IRA bombings, militant unions, and other extremist elements in society. This is a different threat, but no doubt the underlying principles behind countering it remain the same. In return the British public adopt the same phlegmatic approach - just get on with life because anything else means they win.