Yoss

Anderson isn't pish, he had a very good summer last year. I can't think of a single occasion of him producing that sort of form overseas though.

Wasn't slagging him off, I like him too, but he's a bit set in his ways in some respects.

Boycott is old-school, he's always been against all these new-fangled coaching methods; but bowling in particular puts a greater strain on them as athletes nowadays than Boycott had to put himself through, and that needs more care than gruff Yorkshire "in my day ....". Football clubs have much larger backroom teams too.

Bell will have to step down, sounds like Panesar may well escape the axe for now because they'll probably play two spinners in Antigua. (Be interesting to see which of the seamers miss out if so.) There's no one better than Strauss and Cook available to open though they've both still got something to prove. Like others, I'm hoping Vaughan (as well as Simon Jones) show a bit of form early in the county season. On a positive note, Matt Prior is settling into the role well at the moment.

Before slaggging off England, credit has to go to the West Indies who played very well, hats off. But still, that was a shambles and there needs to be a bit of an inquest. No need for knee-jerk reactions or wholesale changes but dropping Bell, at least, is not exactly going to be knee-jerk - his own mother would struggle to argue he hasn't had a fair crack of the whip. Whether there'll be any more changes, I don't know. I had England to win this series 2-1; so there's the 1 but the manner of the defeat has to cast some doubt on England's ability to hit back.

26/7

West Indies aren't even going to have to bat again by the looks of it. I did not see this happening.

f**k me.

Can't agree that was one of Pietersen's best innings, for once it was more luck than judgement that he was England's highest scorer - Benn beat his outside egde time and again. As for Monty - his Test record is repectable but it you can't disguise his lack of progress, there's still no variation and no sign that he's ever going to have the nous to make a proper cricketer. The hope is (and has been for a year or two) that Rashid will blossom into a Test quality bowler, but he isn't yet.

Dickens is superb, mostly. I think Great Expectations is one of his worst (that and Hard Times) though I seem to be in a small minority in that opinion. A Tale of Two Cities, Bleak House, Nicholas Nickleby, The Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield. All greats.

WI 160/1 at close, only 158 behind. Stating the obvious, but this is not looking very clever.

The team is exactly as expected, England have won the toss and will bat.

You never know, Strauss refused to confirm the team so there may be a surprise to come. That looks to be the most likely though. All of those decisions are close calls and I'm not necessarily bothered about any of them individually, but the overall impression is of same-old / same-old, particularly for Bell and Panesar. In Anderson's case I want him to be better than Sidebottom, 'cause he's a bit quicker and more likely to trouble the Aussies *if* he can find his best form, but you can't really say he's been justifying it lately. Still hopefully he'll come good in home conditions again this summer though. Or, better still, Simon Jones might start the county season in blistering form and overtake both of them. Mind, last time they sprung an on-the-day surprise on us it was Darren Pattinson, so maybe there's something to be said for same-old / same-old. Who else would you give it to? Ponting is still a very fine cricketer, one of the greats.

Raith don't have a game this weekend. Where should I go?

I can see that happening too, a bit like the way Hick used to do just enough when the pressure was off in order to keep his place and fail again when the crunch game. I've defended Bell up to now but even I think it's time to give Shah a run at it.

I, for one, will miss the crotchety old bugger.

My apologies, I'd lost track.

RIP Bill Frindall http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/tms/7861363.stm

Massone is on his way from Italy with the cash. Unfortunately, it's currently sliding towards the back end of a bus hanging off a cliff on a mountain road somewhere in the Alps. Don't worry though, he's full of good ideas this Massone chap.

I didn't comment one way or the other, I only said I dont accept the comparison. (Nor, for what it's worth, do I accept KftS's comparisons with incidents in England, where the set-up is very different.)

I have no idea whether I'd have opposed mergers or geogrpahical moves a hundred years ago, the context was very different then and the comparison to more recent events is just silly. But that's not a discussion I'd particularly want to get into on this thread, I hope Livingston get themselves out of this. But I think it's going to need something done about the current owners for that to happen. Their fans have to be more proactive here, if they're serious about wanting to keep their club.

Over the past couple of weeks: American Tabloid (Ellroy), American Pastoral (Roth) and Ragtime (Doctorow). American Pastoral was far and away the best of them, not been convinced by Roth before but this one is excellent. Bit underwhelmed by th Doctorow, giving the glowing reports I'd had of it from normally reliable sources.

I'm hoping Shah will do / have done enough to get the Test spot from Bell. And assure him he'll be given a proper run at it this time whatever happens in the first couple of Tests.

I liked this one in the Sydney Morning Herald a couple of months back. "It must be some measure of the catastrophic decline in Australian cricket that there are blokes in the squad these days who have not even published an autobiography, let alone a barbecue cookbook."

"Thoughtful, humble and considered ..." Good lord. Obviously I don't know the man but I've never heard him described as any of that before. Number four is my favourite though.