Macca

'Ha! By the time we get this all done, Watto will be bowling again anyway ... Besides, don't believe everything you read in the papers 'Rogue'. Especially those 'broadsheets!' :-)

Angelo is a reasonably good player but Watto seems to cop a bit amongst a number of Aussie fans. I don't share that thinking and when he is fit, he adds a lot to our team. (he just needs to stay fit !!!) Considering the dearth of decent all rounders in world cricket I was surprised he got through to pick 44. Watson averages 37 with the bat and 30 with the ball. He's very good in the slips and is the Australian Vice-Captain. I was thinking that 'Rogue' might have grabbed him as well as Kallis. (that might have left the rest of us with only 4 genuine front line bowlers each) Watto will be back at the bowling crease sooner or later though I agree that he should concentrate on his batting only (for the time being) I'll take Watto over Angelo any day of the week, 'TD' !

Zaheer Khan (India)

Those bowlers who can bowl over 150km always seem to have injury issues. Lee missed a fair whack of Test cricket over his career. Cummins is back playing grade cricket as a batsman I believe, so there are some positive signs. Lillee and Thomson had their fair share of injury issues. DK was very quick early in his career. I've known a number of blokes who have gone over for the Ashes before. There is always a lot going on sporting wise in the UK around late June, all of July and most of August. There's a group from my cricket club who are doing the cricket, Open golf, Wimbledon, Grand Prix and Le Tour. They are on the move every day for 5 or 6 weeks. Looking forward to your 'Ashes Reports' in early August! Our man in Manchester ! Bresnan is a good player but the bloke who has dropped off the radar is Tremlett. He's got a crook knee apparently and hasn't played for quite a while. Dangerous customer when firing. Finn has come on quite well though. In their conditions they'd have to be favoured right now, but you never know. I don't mind the rotation policy if they get it right. The chances are they're going to do it anyway so we have to accept it in a lot of ways. Also, Test series are played over a shorter time frame on a consistent basis, couple this with the demands of the other forms of the game means the fast bowlers need rest. A rotation policy can give any given quick bowler an added incentive and he doesn't have to 'save himself'. Competition for spots is a healthy thing and having an arsenal of quicks is not a bad option. For instance, they may decide to play all the 5 fast bowlers for 2 tests each in India. 3 in one Test and the other 2 in the next Test and so forth (2 spinners may play in at least 2 of the Tests) But the best of the quicks should play whenever possible. Winning is always the priority - we left ourselves short of quality fast bowlers for the vital 3rd test against South Africa in Perth this season. The preceding test in Adelaide is where Siddle and Pattinson could have been rested. If they are going to rest/rotate they have to bite the bullet.

Yep, Starc is another with X factor. Huge upside for this bloke. When he gets it right he's a real handful. They may take 6 quicks to England given that we're sending an extended squad of 17 players to India and the rotation policy has been enacted. There is usually a surprise or 2. Hilfenhaus, Cutting, Hazlewood, Coulter-Nile and McDermott would be in the mix as well. If Cummins was fit and firing we'd be a real show. Hopefully he'll be ready next summer (for the return bout) A bowling line up of Cummins, Pattinson, Starc and Lyon with backup from Watson and Maxwell would be a dangerous combination. That's a 'future's' line up. Siddle at the moment is one of the first picked. Just on the rotation policy - they've got to make sure they get their timing right. For instance, in a 5 Test series you would want close to your best combination for 3 of the Tests. (that's assuming the rotation policy stays) And they need to be flexible. They shouldn't just rest bowlers just because a of set plan. Starc was rested after the Hobart Test this season when he hadn't done a lot of work in that game. And they mucked up with Siddle - he should have been fresh for Perth. They need to put some real thought into it - identify pitch conditions, result wickets, vital rubbers etc etc.

One to keep an eye out for ... 'The Americans.' ... heard some good reports about this brand new drama from the States.

Much will depend on Pattinson, Starc, Bird, Johnson, Siddle and Lyon. It's a shame that Cummins will probably not be available. Think we can make enough runs to be competitive although we'll need a few of our batsmen to step it up on the tour of India. In England, Maxwell could be the batting all rounder unless the selectors want to play a 4th seamer. Hopefully Watson will have returned to the bowling crease by then and we'll have even greater bowling depth. Lots of if's and but's although England have their issues as well. They are not as good as when they 'peaked' in the series in Australia a couple of years ago. Gonna be tough though and first of all, we need to perform in India. It's arguably going to be tougher to win in India with the spinning decks that will probably be presented over there. Clarke is a very good leader and in career best form with the bat so we've got no problems there. I'm hopeful without being overly confident. (kinda like the way I feel about our footy club )

Top stuff hardtack ... keep 'em comin' Ozzy released an album a year or 2 ago called 'Scream'. Worth a listen. He just keeps going ... Here's a classic Black Sabbath song from 43 years ago ... A 'young' Ozzy ... Macca 12.4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz_6jagv_D4

The Doors ... Macca 12.3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XWQrt00_NM

Stumbled across this article on modern day journalism ... it's from the States but it's quite relevent (even though it might contravene the rules of this thread with the references to B$ !) Journalisms New Mantra is Get It Now, Fix It Later

Thilan Samaraweera (SL)

I saw a fair bit of holding in the match. Probably at least 8 - 10 times. I couldn't remember the one they called but you make a reasonable point. My reasoning was that 'generally' the officials were consistent. You'll never get it perfect - in any sport. I can remember thinking at one stage that 'They're not calling much'. If that last call was made, then I've no doubt there would have been Ravens fans complaining that the officials had let things go all game - why change now? Not sure there's any right or wrong here. I can fully understand those who reckon that that last play should have been called pass interference. It will be talked about for years.

The last 2 rounds could make for some interesting choices, Biff. Comments such as "He hasn't played for years" or "Who's that?" or perhaps even "You can't have any more South Africans!" Punter and Mr Cricket may be forced out of retirement. Warnie? :-)

If only our footballers were as competitive as some of you blokes. An endless run of flags would ensue ... Who are the 'mystery' adjudicators? And can they be 'influenced'? Can gifts be given 'a la' the IOC ?

In a few days it might be remembered as the Super Bowl where holding was vitually 'legal'. Wouldn't surprise me with the analysis that goes on in their sports. There were 23 unsuccessful pass attempts with only one call of pass interference. As I intimated earlier, the officials set the pattern early in the game and were consistent throughout. If you were a Niners fan you may see it diiferently. Must admit, I haven't looked at that run back in detail. Will have another look - I'm sure you're correct about it, Cards.

Tim Bresnan (Eng)

Yes, that's the 2nd bit. If Cale starts looking like 'Arnie' we're definitely on to something ... Warnie cracked a mention in there as well (but he's always in the news for some obscure reason) Just back to the Super Bowl. Apparently there was only one pass interference call in the whole game. So the last 'Non call' needs to be put into context. Even though it was pass interference in my opinion, I was happy that they didn't call it. In fact, if they did call it we'd be getting countless replays of all the instances that weren't called. I distinctly remember seeing lots of WR's for both sides pleading for favourable decisions. At least the officials were consistent. The only issue I have is if you're not going to make these calls in a Super Bowl then why do we see regular season games often have umpteen penalties?

Yep, was thinking the same thing 'cfh' (nostradamus) These sort of things quite often happen in 'Three's' . I'm making sure I take a lotto ticket this Saturday (can you please PM me the numbers ) Might even take out a multi sports bet on the weekend.

One of the best parts of the NFL is the unpredictability of it. Within the games and overall. There is no 'sure fire' way to win though you do need a reasonably good QB. It seems in todays NFL it's all about timing, belief and getting 'hot'. Same sort of thing has been happening a bit in Hockey and Baseball. Where did we all have Flacco on our lists after week 17? Not even top 15 for mine and yet he was stellar in the playoffs. He's done an Eli ! The roster for next year is out (not the week to week schedule yet) . Our division (NFC North) has got it tough - we play all the teams in the NFC East and all the teams in the AFC North ... Ravens, Steelers, Giants, Redskins, Bengals, Dallas, Eagles and Cleveland. That's apart from the 6 tough games within our division. The other 2 games the Packers have got are Atlanta and San Francisco. Your blokes 'extra' 2 games are against Carolina and @ Seattle ... Aaron and Adrian will both need huge years again ! Anyway, for those that are interested, if you click on the following link it will take you to a site that lists all the individual team's schedules - click on any team to find out your teams schedule for 2013. ... NFL Football Schedule

Yep 84, good point re Williams. Obviously Flacco and Boldin stood out on the offence, but that stand at the end was typical Ravens. Some teams drop away after a loss like this. Can't see it with these 49ers. Jim Harbaugh won't let this team slip back. Kaepernick stays fit and they'll be right back into proceedings.

Ravens win. And to think that they lost 4 of their last 5 games in the regular season. You get hot at the right time and you can win the whole damn thing - once again. Great finish

Did Jim Harbaugh waste that 'time out' on 3rd down? They take a safety. Looked liked they'd practiced it too.

They've got 4 goes at it here

Have to look at it again but that was a vital 3 points. Didn't seem much in it anyway.

Wow, what a turnaround. 28-23 . Akers got lucky. That was an awful miss the first time. Still a stack of time left in the game