peasy23

The only English player that was bought, Bell,Wright etc got no bids.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/kevin-pietersen-damned-for-disloyalty-as-ecb-hits-back-over-decision-to-ditch-batsman-9117763.html Boom. KP hung out to dry by the ECB and the Professional Cricketers Association.

@MichaelVaughan: I think the @ECB_cricket have to explain to everyone exactly what @KP24 has done so we can all have clarity and reasoning A fair comment tbh by Vaughan. Maybe if they were to come out and say why he is supposedly unmanageable people would be able to make their own minds up.

Would agree with that, I'm not a big KP fan but there are a lot of other things that need fixed before they kick him into touch.

Has to have come from Ashley GIles IMO.

Gary Kirsten's name has been mentioned, if he wants it they would be daft not to give him it IMO. He's done excellent jobs with India and South Africa.

Just caught 10-15 minutes while I was driving to work, will try and catch the rest during the night it tomorrow. Sounds like they were both being very frank and honest about the tour.

Cricket show on Radio 5 Live tonight at 9pm has interviews with Graeme Swann and Jimmy Anderson. Swann says he quit because of his own "awful" bowling and that when a rabbit who bats at number 11 is hitting you for 6s you know it's time to go.

Bopara? Dearie me, admittedly a very jammy wicket for the Aussies but an absolute brain fart by Bopara to lift his foot at all when the keeper was up.

It's that time of year again, here's the latest NFL offering from the Bad Lip Reading crew. "Dance on!" http://youtu.be/rRqKYXcL-2U

Found some stats here. Over 77% of Carolina's kick offs weren't returned, unsurprisingly Denver aren't far behind. Denver were over 85% at home. http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/kickoff-touchback-pct

I'd agree with that, catching and returning the kick off is supposed to be a skill like any other part of the game. I wonder what the percentage of kick offs that end up as touchbacks is?

At least the "tuck rule" is no more, so that's a start.

Cook hinting that he might quit as ODI skipper.

So Finn is "unselectable", but Bresnan who offers very little at the moment with the ball in hand appears to be undroppable? Some brilliant catches today, Jordan's c&b was superb as was Ballance's nonchalant one handed catch.

Yep, Aussies win by 6 wickets with over 4 overs to spare, and that was with them easing themselves over the line. England's bowling for the most part was awful but Jordan was very unlucky not to get a wicket or two, couple of dropped catches and one that just fell short of Ballance. Stokes never looked like the same bowler as he did in some of the Tests.

Finch goes for 121, he's the first Victorian to score a ODI ton at the MCG.

Not making a lot of difference tbh. England scored 269-7 from their 50 overs with Ballance top scoring on 79. Australia need 52 from 78 balls to win with 8 wickets still in hand. Finch and Warner took the game to England right from the start and Finch is still there on 111. He's had a bit of luck but batted well, England's attack has looked very light apart from Jordan who has bowled pretty well with no reward.

Read them all too, the best ones are absolutely superb, The Sign of Four is a masterpiece.

KP might have given his wicket away a couple of times, but I can't see him being left out any time soon. He still scores too many runs for that to happen, but I agree with what Vaughan was saying that they need to give him a role in the field in which he is more proactive. I think Cook made a lot of mistakes but he looked to be a man alone at times with little support from his team mates. Clarke had folk like Haddin, Smith and others helping him and suggesting field changes and placings but Cook didn't appear to have that sort of support around him.

Will be interesting to see how the Saffers get on with the massive hole that Kallis' retirement leaves. Will they try and fill it with another all rounder or do they just try and get a batsman in?

Pomnishambles. Decent article from the South African press. http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2014-01-05-pomnishambles-englands-ashes-embarrassment/#.Usp1unggGc0

Boycott on the podcast is tremendous entertainment. As he points out, 31.4 overs they lasted in the second innings, that's hardly a single sessions play. He's also scathing of the ECCB administrators. Where were they all today? They were all quite happy to be out on show at the Oval in the summer when they had won the Ashes.

Yep, mental stuff from Cook again. I know Borthwick got a bit of a smacking the other day but that's all part of the learning process. Not bowling him now will be worse for him than getting whacked around a bit.

61-5 at lunch, Stokes and Ballance doing quite well.