45HG

Who could blame him?

As Gilchrist said, people may debate whether he is the right person for the award - but no one could honestly argue that he's the wrong person for it.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/adam-goodes-the-right-man-for-australian-of-the-year-20140126-31gyp.html

It's a team game, though. I'm disappointed none of his mates picked up the tab and filled the void.

Interesting concept. Does it cover all press or have you selected individual news sources?

After four days of pretty poor cricket, the Sri Lanka v Pakistan match had a cracking finale. On Marsh - his last series for Australia yielded 17 runs at 2.83. I recall jibes directed his way saying he should have been fined $24,000 after the MCG test for being on the ground 4 times when he shouldn't have been. Having said that, his away average is 56.80 (due to one good knock) ...

I only went through school once so I can't really comment on standards slipping. If you're referring to student results I standardised tests against other nations, perhaps it says as much for other education settings improving?

Interesting. A revealing study would be to see how such people go during their degree, how long they stay in it for and whether or not they get jobs. Being offered a place at a uni to study is not the same as getting a job with that degree. It'd be nice if all the brightest wanted to study teaching, unfortunately (for a multitude of reasons) this is not the case. Raising the entry score to study teaching won't improve teaching standards, it'll lower the amount of people who could become teachers. The only result to that would be astronomical class sizes which would negate the skills of the teacher in the first place.

I just can't get over how tired the Aussie bowlers are WYL...

The reality is that 200 is not good enough. That has nothing to do with the toss. In fact, we should have had a psychological advantage having knocked them over cheaply. As I posted earlier, I thought 250 would be competitive and that the pitch was getting easier to bat on. Watson and Harris' injury concerns are a real worry and a shame for the match as it looks like England should be able to pull away easily now. The toss is not the reason half our batsman folded like a lawn chair. That is the real issue.

In my view this is definitely a pitch that I will wait until the conclusion of our innings before making any firm judgements on. 250 could potentially be a competitive score, perhaps it was a day underprepared and will come into its best this afternoon? Will be interesting to see. I for one loved the day's play, I found it utterly enthralling.

Soft!

Keep an eye on South Africa's chase, people!

It doesn't seem to bother Hawthorn...

But with a much larger tax bill, I'd have thought.

Personally, talking about such an event through Australian glasses lessens the event in my opinion. So many exciting possibilities the whole way through. A great month of sport which will hopefully not be marred by external interference - justified to a degree it may be.

Very sad to hear this news. All the best, Bails'.

23 rounds does not equal 23 games.

Does anyone have an informed opinion on Chadd Sayers?

You mean to tell me he scored 22 off of his first 20, but then only 12 from his next 32 before getting himself out!?!

Hold your horses, people. We haven't won a 1st round (or second round) match since 2005. 0-15-1

If they believed that, they wouldn't have delisted him...

Col Garland...?

My reading on that would be that no one had GWS jumpers - so majority of fans would buy. Novelty factor on top of that. In a couple of years their numbers may reveal all. As an aside, I remember hearing a crazy stat about Franklin - something like Hawks jumpers with 23 sell more than any other player number by a street.

He was something else, that's for sure. Just wish I was a bit older at the time to appreciate him - and that his candle burned a whole lot longer.