Macca

Now we're gonna have to bat to save the game. 6 lefties in the top 6. Ashwin and Harby will be itching to get at us. This has been some sort of knock from Dhoni

This track is stone dead. Although you wouldn't want to be facing any sort of bowling on this pitch when the match gets into it's 5th day. Ball is grubbing a bit. The ball is barely reaching Wade on the full from the quicks. Clarke's bowling could be handy today and Lyon needs to get amongst it. As ya said, we just need one wicket. Edit : we got that wicket but it's been India's session so far.

Interesting words from Pattinson overnight. I have no real issue with what he said.(though he wouldn't want to do it all the time) He's an aggressive, young fast bowler who is just speaking his mind. In another article he mentioned that he wanted to bowl more (yesterday). For what it's worth, I like the way that Clarke is keeping Pattinson fresh. It's no good having all your bowlers spent as the innings progresses. These Test matches in India are nearly always 'marathon affairs'. ... Should have bounced Sachin, says Pattinson

Pup's handling your bloke well. Keeping the big gun fresh . Patto bowls his 3rd victim.

I don't mind . It'll give half my blokes a chance to either regain some form or overcome injury. Pollard could make his Test debut, Watto will be rolling his arm over and Zaheer and Yuvraj will be back in the Indian team !!! Do you wanna make that a couple of months, Django ?!!

Big Patto gets things going ... good pace Need to get Sehwag early.

Good point re the Windies 'TD'. Suppose with Johnno and Bird waiting in the wings we can just let the quicks go for it. I wonder if they've gone through the process of working out their attack's for all the Tests? If they've done this they will need to factor in a bit of flexibility. Remembering that the 2nd Test follows on from this Test after just a 3 day break. Looking forward to today's play. Tactically, the Tests played in India are fascinating. I don't mind 'turning' tracks at all. Brings so many other aspects of the game into play - none the least being the ability of batsmen to use their feet. Clarke looked terrific late last night with his feet movement. Lyon has a real opportunity to make a mark in these Tests. We need him to play a part. I remember Michael Kasprovich played a strong role in 2 tours of India. Big lion hearted bowler who kept charging in - Siddle and Patto are in that mould. Starc provides good variation and has a bit of x factor.

Had forgotten about Ryder ... he can certainly hit the ball. The last 2 rounds hasn't been as tricky as I thought. With so much cricket being played over the 3 forms of the game, there is a reasonable amount of depth I've had my eye on Pollard for quite some time. The depth in batting in my tail allowed me to have a bit of freedom with the no.6 bat. Plus, you've got to have the bowling capacity to get 20 wickets and Pollard is more than handy with the ball. Think I've got 8 bowlers in my side

Need a hard hitting no.6 who can bowl decent medium fast. Someone with a touch of 'Grinter' about himself The bloke I'm picking can have a 'licence to thrill' as my tail bats deep (Prior, Vettori, Bresnan). This fella is only 25 years old and is a very good outfielder who (arguably) took the catch of the summer. Hasn't played Test cricket yet but according to that doyen of cricket writers, Tony Cosier, it's "Time to check Pollard's red-ball value" Round 11, pick 85 Kieron Pollard (West Indies)

Well, you have to take into account that we'd already played a game beforehand. Reverse the circumstances and we may have even won the game. We ran the game out well and only lost by 15 pts. And our team in the 2nd game wasn't as strong. Richmond only kicked 3 goals.(they kicked 6 goals against North) Depends on how you wanted to view the practice games Munga. If winning was a priority then I can see how some might be disappointed. I was mainly looking at our fitness, endeavor, structure, teamwork and the use of the corridor. We weren't too bad - not great by any means but there was some good positive signs.

Didn't get to see much either but heard that Clarke was in complete control again. His batting has gone into overdrive since he assumed the captaincy. Great to see. From what little I saw, Henriques didn't look out of place and he spoke very well and succinctly after the days play. I can see him snaring a wicket or 2 when he gets the ball in hand. He's a confident young bloke! Evenly poised but we need to get to 400+ to give ourselves a reasonable chance. Hoping that 'TD's forecast of our quicks coming through with the goods happens. Pup's spin could be handy as well (to back up Lyon) . That is of course if his back holds up.

Yep, excellent debut by Moises. We were in a precarious position and it's been a great fightback by the boys. Pup is just outstanding. N.B ... I've got to learn to post quicker - lost 2 wickets typing this - sheesh

They're practice matches OD. I was quite pleased, we didn't win but we ran both games out well and it could have been a damn side worse. I reckon most of us would have taken a close loss or win against North before the game. Watts looks comfortable out there - gee he's got some class - just needs a bit more mongrel - keep the beard, Jack! We all would have loved a win but realistically we had a much better chance in game 1 - and we only lost by 2 points. It's Friday night mate, go pour yourself a nice single malt and think about how good Hogan, Toumpas and Viney are gonna be for us.

We showed a bit. We look quite fit and a few of our new players were quite promising. Hogan looks the goods and Viney is a real goer. Watts and Dunn were both good down back and we ran the 2nd game out well. Attack on the ball was good and our overall endeavor was pleasing. Just need to finish better and improve our disposal. Thought our style of play was interesting - we brought the ball back into the corridor nicely and we kicked long and accurately to position on occasions. We had a whole bunch of new players in and it will take a little while for it to all gel. We didn't let the Tigers get away from us too much. Overall - reasonably pleased. That's a good hit out.

The Lakers paid a great tribute today with a terrific win over Boston. Jerry Buss had a huge positive influence over the League, over a lengthy period of time. The Lakers won 10 Championships under his ownership - phenomenal. Nice pre-game words by Kobe as well. Game highlights ... Boston @ the Lakers Had a listen to the last half of the Houston/OKC game today. The Rockets came back from a 14 pt deficit with just over 7 minutes to go. Harden went silly with 46 points - he's good to watch when he's 'On' . Jeremy Lin had 29 pts. Here are some highlights ... OKC @ Houston

Cale is living proof that the Draft can sometimes be a glorified lucky dip. If he went at pick 40 or 50 we wouldn't even be talking about him. The Draft has major flaws and always will have major flaws. These kids are 17 or 18 when drafted and there is no way you can tell for sure how these draftee's are going to turn out until they reach the age of 21- 23.(sometimes that footy 'maturity' comes at an even later age) From what we've been told, just about every recruiter in the land had Cale at pick 3 or 4. There is a very good chance that at least 2 of the top 10 picks in the 2012 National Draft will turn out to be below average footballers. And the other 8 won't all be 'A' grader's. Often a 'failed' top 10 pick can be injury related (Luke Molan) The stats don't lie. Go through every draft from 2006 and back, for the evidence. We didn't make an error in our selection nor did Cale let us or himself down. Cale is what he is. It didn't work out for us and I wish him all the best.

Well done to Moises Henriques and 'all the best' if, as expected, he makes his Test debut on Friday. He's probably dreamt of this moment all his life. Congratulations and good luck !

Was probably Hutchy being mischevious but I want to believe that version - therefore I will. Hissy fit it is - forget the overseas stuff. Time for us to embellish ...

Didn't Hutchy 'tweet' after last weeks show that she'd chucked a 'hissy fit' and threatened to not do the next show? This was after Gazza and her continued the 'verbals' post show. They should ditch her anyway. She adds nothing but muckraking rubbish that is mostly made up. If I watch it, it will be on delay so that I can mute and FF her part in the show. Excluding adverts this will allow me to watch the show in about 8 minutes.

Any idea why? Apart from the fact that she knows nothing about footy. She could get bumped for Dame Edna and it would be a huge step up in footy knowledge. A gossip columnist as 'chief football writer' - astonishing.

Pre-season games don't count ... but they do matter. As a team they will learn a lot about themselves. Our best chance is the 1st game against North. What will be interesting is how we run the game out against Richmond. Looking forward to seeing the new recruits. Especially Hogan, Dawes, Viney and Toumpas. Disappointing not to see Tapscott in the squad but he might be carrying a slight leg injury. I reckon Luke will prove a few people wrong this year. He just needs a good go at it. Still just 21 years old.

Fair enough 'dl' ... For those without cable or at work there is still not any news on whether ABC radio are covering the Test matches from India - not looking good There might be audio commentary of the games online by Test Match Sofa (click for online audio) As I'm typing this, they are 'calling' the New Zealand / England ODI. Here is there 'Wiki' page. But beware, the commentary takes a bit of an irreverent or flippant view of the games with a heavy anti Aussie slant. They are an English outfit who I believe commentate the game from a 'live' TV feed (from an 'unknown' location in London) They do have the official rights so it's not a dodgy link. Edit : Test Match Sofa are covering the Tests but probably not the 1st session of most or all of the days.

Yep, it could just be about the 'evidence', not how it was procured. More so if the VCGLR look over the report and then make their findings - in turn, they could make a judgement at a later date. We then may find out the detail in the report. We were alerted and forewarned about a month ago that the VCGLR could get involved. I guess most of us thought that once the AFL came down with a 'Not guilty of deliberately losing matches' we were out of the woods.

We're possibly going to find out what's in the 800 page report now. Although I've no idea how transparent these VCGLR investigations are. Maybe our legal eagles will know. The AFL's 'want' to keep everyone in the dark (on the detail) has attracted the wrong type of attention by the looks of it.

We're all feeling it mate, as 'rjay' said on the VCGLR thread - too smart by half. The punishment in no way fits the crime. All too vague and in a lot of ways it draws attention to itself. 16 weeks for Bailey and a year for Connolly and we still have no idea what for (in actuality) . Then there's the 500k fine for being 'Not guilty' . Amateur hour by the AFL and they may well have really landed us in it. Obviously I hope I'm wrong ...