Macca

The next test is in 5 days and we'd want to get our act together in a hurry - we seemed to have played as if we came in under prepared. We've been thoroughly outplayed on every day of this match (have we even won a session?) If Starc is out injured I reckon they'll play Cummins over Siddle (as long as Cummins is not too much of a risk due to a lack of match fitness) Siddle doesn't inspire but he does offer a decent line and length. We also need a 5th bowler with strike ability so Mitch Marsh may well be preferred over Watson. Edit: And Watto is out LBW again (and in the same way) - egads. I'm loathe to ever single out one player in a team sport but he'd now have to be facing the axe. However, I'm not convinced that Voges should be an automatic choice either. Also, it should be remembered that the selectors will often give any given player the first 2 tests of a series as a way of proving or establishing themselves. We haven't had too many players put their hand up in this test in all reality. We need to re-group and we need to do it quickly. .

Hird knows exactly what the players were given in my opinion ... and those with influence at the Essendon club will know that he knows all. The devil would be in the detail so it's best to keep that information suppressed. So, they're tied to him. Cutting him loose before the final judgement from the CAS is high risk. If they do cut him loose then I'd expect a sizeable settlement and a confidential agreement to be signed off. He'll be well compensated. .

History tells us that it's a tall order for the Aussies but I'd expect us to make at least 300 (which is only 112 runs short of the target) We'd need a lot of things to go in our favour and I suppose you just never know - England would have wanted to bat us out of the match and they haven't quite done that ... a 470-500 target would have been their preference. If we can get to 3-250 we're in with a chance - on this wicket, that's a bit of an ask.

We're looking at a largish deficit on the first innings now ... and obviously, we have to bat last on a wicket that may play lower and lower. The truth is we've been thoroughly outplayed thus far and it will take a huge turnaround to somehow get back into this match.

It's England's test to lose from here. We haven't batted or bowled well (so far) according to the condition of the pitch - far too impatient. Hopefully Watto and Haddin can put together a big partnership and our tail can make runs ... or we get lots of rain :-)

South Australian Rohan Dennis wins the time trial in record breaking style ... he may hold on to the yellow jersey for a while if the next few stages end up being decided by the sprinters (remembering that the riders don't hit the Pyrénées until stage 10) ... Tour de France: Next challenge for Rohan Dennis after time trial win - show he can climb

The Tour de France starts tonight as many are aware ... Froome and Quintana are joint favourites whilst Contador and Nibali are joint 2nd favourites. Rodriguez is an outside chance and Porte is at long odds as he's in the same Sky team as Froome. The course is reasonably flat until we get into the 2nd week when it really hots up ... before the last flat stage (stage 21), there are no fewer than 9 of the 11 prior stages that involve climbs ranging from extremely difficult to reasonably difficult. Many of those stages involve multiple climbs. So there's quite a lead in after an initial week and a half of basically flat stages. I'll post up some profiles in the 2nd week but here's the official site with the stage previews Also, here's the profile of the 3rd last stage (stage 19) ... the leading riders will have already completed 7 difficult stages from their last 9 completed stages before embarking on this one ...

Ha ha ... anyway Chris, Pound is a man of high integrity, morals and ethics. There's not many that I would trust on their word but he is one person I can trust. It shouldn't be forgotten that he chaired the IOC investigation committee into the IOC corruption/scandal. The new reforms that came into being were from that same committee that he chaired.

I agree with just about everything you've said Chris and kudos to you for not taking the "popular" view. In my opinion the Olympic sports are miles cleaner than most of the pro sports. Of course, it hasn't always been that way but it's annoying that many haven't seen the shifting of the goal posts. Here's an article from 8 years ago that should have resonated .... Athletics runs rings around AFL Soccer and the big 4 USA sports fly under the radar because of their pitifully low testing standards and procedures but many don't want to acknowledge that ... if it's not in their face, there are some who mistakenly assume "clean" (for many who have an opinion on the subject) I do disagree somewhat on the IOC however - I very much doubt that the IOC is not without it's corruption but again, things have improved markedly in my opinion ... (Richard) Pound had some favourable things to say about the IOC in this article from 6 years ago ... Olympic host bidding – has the IOC cleaned up its act? .

This absolute rot that the players are innocent victims needs to stop ... it's a crock of ... They agreed to be injected thousands of times and it was up to every single player to know what was being injected into their bodies - no excuses. I've believed from day 1 that the players are complicit and there's been nothing said or done to change my mind - maybe if it was 1 or 2 injections but thousands of injections? (outside of the club, across the road at a dodgy anti-aging clinic) Everything points towards guilt in my opinion. The lack of records should have made things worse but somehow become their ally. If this was an overseas club in another code that club would have very little support in Australia. Of course, the love of the code of footy in this country has also been a strong ally for the Bombers as well (also from day 1) I believe there's a very good chance that the players will be found guilty but the penalties may not be all that draconian. 12 months maximum is my best guess. I do have sympathy for their supporters however - they're stuck in a no-win situation with regards to their own opinions - pronounce innocence and they look delusional ... pronounce guilt and they'd struggle to continue to support their club in a normal way. Blaming their supporters is unnecessary and in many ways, wrong - it's not like their fans ever made the choice for the players to transgress the drug code. They are trying to deal with the aftermath like many fans of any other club would.

Wimbledon starts on Monday ... both of the following links are constantly updated ... Ladies seeds, draw & schedule Men's seeds, draw & schedule On the Ladies side ... Serena, Ivanovic, Sharapova & Safarova are in one half of the draw whilst Wozniacki, Halep, Makarova & Kvitova are in the other half of the draw. On the men's side ... Djokovic, Nishikori, Wawrinka & Raonic are in one half of the draw whilst Ferrer, Murray, Berdych, Federer & Nadal* are in the other half of the draw. There's plenty of Aussie representation as well ... 13 Aussies in all are represented in the singles. *Nadal is seeded at #10 and is drawn to play Berdych in the round of 16 and Murray in the Quarter finals (if all 3 players make it that far)

The new season of 'True Detective' has started ... Foxtel is showing the new series on their showtime channel. Keep an eye out for 'Mr Robot' too ... looks another winner.

It seemed to be more a match-up issue with Bogut ... also, the way Kerr designed his team to beat the Cavs, Bogut became surplus to that design. He certainly aided in a big way to getting the Warriors to the playoffs though so he fully deserves his championship ring. He also did quite well in games 2 & 3 against the Rockets in the conference finals. The Warriors seem to have a team that can get back to the final too - Thompson, Green & Curry have just hit their prime and on an overall basis, they've got a very good roster with excellent flexibility. The issue for them is always going to be the strength of the Western conference. ... anyway, the league is soaring ... NBA salary cap projected to hit $108 million in 2017

Yep, the Blackhawks just too good ... their 3rd Stanley cup in 6 years and 6th Stanley cup all-time - highlights game 6 ... here's Jonathan Toews with the iconic moment ...

It's far too early to tell after 25 games (in my opinion) My ambition for Jimmy would be for him to be the best player he can be - if that's in our best dozen players in a team that can play finals, he will have done quite well. Any more than that is purely up to the player himself. .

... old dee, you would know that any given player needs 60-70 games under his belt before we can give a more accurate appraisal of a player. That rule of thumb has always been a good benchmark figure. By the end of the season Toumpas might have played a total of 36 games (he's still only played 25 games - a number of those games as a sub) I still see him as a young draftee finding his way. It's true he's out of contract so there are any number of outcomes - he might receive a decent offer elsewhere, we may want to keep him no matter what, we might want to trade him if the right offer came along, he might want to move anyway, who knows?

It's always best to wait and see with draftees and/or players who haven't been given enough opportunities - unless it's absolutely obvious and even then it's easy to jump the gun. Hogan, Brayshaw, Salem & Viney all look to have bright futures but all 4 will still need to improve a lot before we can lay claim to them being top players. Toumpas still hasn't proved himself to a large degree but who is to say whether he will prove himself to be a top player or not? My evaluation (so far) is that he runs hard to position and is creating lots of options - he likes to get his hands on the ball which is always a good sign. I'd like to think that his composure under pressure will improve as he gets more games under his belt - 30-40 more games will bring him up to the 60-70 game benchmark (when we can then confidently make a more defined evaluation) That evaluation might happen earlier if he hits his straps before that 60-70 game benchmark. Again, we just have to wait and see. I'm just happy to see him given opportunities over other players who have been given lots of opportunities previously (and have been found wanting)

The aggressive declaration make sense when considering the strength of the opposition. There isn't any rain forecast so it could be supposed that we wanted to have a crack at them late on the 3rd day - so far, it's worked. All the same, the wicket is taking a bit of spin and all our fast bowlers are in good form - they might get to 250 and one of their batsman might get stuck in. All our bowlers would be itching to get their hands on the ball.

Smith's batting average went up from 51.86 to 55.06 after his mammoth innings and I'm tipping he'll end up averaging over 60 for his entire career. Apart from "The Don" only 4 players have averaged over 60 in Test cricket ... Highest Career Batting Averages* His confidence at the crease is amazing and he's in top, top form - I can't see why he can't keep getting better. For the first Test in England you'd reckon that Rogers will come in for Shaun Marsh whilst Mitch Marsh may be preferred for Watson ... I can't see the selectors not picking either Mitch Marsh or Watson for balance (especially if Starc & Johnson both play) Harris might have to sit out for a bit too - Hazlewood is in fine form. *minimum 15 innings .

From all reports Tampa have been the better team in the Blackhawks 2 wins ... the teams are evenly matched all the same (the stats from the 4 games thus far back up that claim) Chicago have the experience but Tampa aren't going away in a hurry either ... a 7th game is on the cards.

Lance Armstrong: 'I've admitted to it all and suffered enough' 15 years of blatantly cheating with a concoction of various PED's and he thinks he's suffered enough? The man is quite delusional if he thinks things can just move on as a matter of course. Yeah, sure, there's been plenty of other drug cheats but has anyone gone close to the lengths that this bloke went to? Stomped on more than a few people in his manic pursuit of success and money too. He says he hasn't got 100 million to lose (re the whistleblower lawsuit) ... maybe not a "visible" 100 million would be more like it. .

Cleveland rocks Matty is the talk of America today and the Cavs are just willing themselves over the line ... however, Curry found his range in the 4th quarter and there's still a lot to be played out - LeBron has been superb. The vital 4th game coming up on Friday (our time) ... you almost feel it could be the defining game now - either the Cavs go 3-1 up or it's all square heading back to Oakland. A more than fascinating series so far.

Cleveland have turned both games into scraps with James being a domineering force. With the next 2 games being in Cleveland the series could go either way now. I still expect Golden State to hit their straps and win the series but the Cavs are playing very good defence even without Love & Irving ... we can probably expect more of the same. Game 2 was a fascinating match. My guess is we'll go back to Oakland with the series tied 2 all.

It's a big ask now isn't it? ... the Cavs just have to win tomorrow to get into the series. For that to happen it'll probably need a monumental performance from James, all the same. Maybe 1 or 2 of his teammates can step it up - that needs to happen as well.

Tampa get one back so at least their home fans will get to see them at least one more time ... I reckon the Lightning might sneak a win out of the next 2 in Chicago anyway - if not, then the Blackhawks will be hard to stop with a 3-1 lead. ... today's highlights