topcat(The most tip top)

Ireland are cruising through the qualification tournament for the Twenty20 World Cup 4 wins out of 4 Scotland are struggling with 1 win out of 4 so tomorrow's game against the Netherlands looks like the last chance saloon

BBC4 are repeating the 1979 TV version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Alec Guiness as Smiley The scenes set in 1970s Czechoslovakia are shot in Glasgow

It must be tough for people who give a toss about Celtic-minded types calling them names

About to be merged with the Top 5 frozen Lasagne thread

I know it's wrong to laugh at these people but there's far more http://shop.grandorangelodge.co.uk/acatalog/Seasonal.html I prefer this tribute to Perthshire All Rounder Gordon Drummond

You do have to wonder about the daytime drinkers of the Gallowgate. They apparently could be reasonably expected to come out of the put to get annoyed at a march in the street but the police don't think they lack the commitment to walk a two minute down the street to get offended. I suspect they're not taking this seriously

Twenty20 World Cup qualifiers kick off a week on Friday. Ireland should dispose of Canada in Abu Dhabi in their first game in Group A while Group B sees Scotland open against Afghanistan in a game that Could go either way.

The ginger one is great with spicy food

They'd have to source one from one of those stag weekend tank driving experience places http://www.haywoodoaksactivitycentre.co.uk/tank_driving.html It doesn't impress me though I'm going to be watching Hearts vs Ross County perched on the shoulder of a giant robot dinosaur

You're only 29. You could play sport at the weekend instead of watching it.

It's called Broth rather than Soup!

Anyway With Ireland now seeing test status as an achievable aim it's worth remembering that the current newest test nation are about to take to the field as they continue to try and gain some credibility on the global stage Bangladesh vs New Zealand starts in 6 hours time NZ are traditionally more of a one day side but they put up good resistance at home to England in our winter (their summer) and they'll start as favourites. The Bangladeshi example should be a sobering one. They lost about 20 test matches in a row before finally breaking their duck. Ambitious Irish cricket administrators should maybe be careful what they wish for

Neil Lennon only has himself to blame. That kind of thing wouldn't have happened if he'd played cricket instead.

Presumably you make the same distinction between Hating the Orange Order and hating actual Orangemen

So it's OK for you to detest it but...

But that's an actual sect as opposed to being "sectarian".

FTFY

I've had a look at http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/ and can't find any sign of it.

Here's her take on the issue for those that are interested. http://www.ruthdudleyedwards.co.uk/nonfiction/RDE-writingTribe.html

You could say that they've currently effectively got two The Northern Cricket Union covers Belfast and that end of NI. While the North Western Union is based around Londonderry/Derry and takes in a few places that are technically Connaught This year the inaugural Irish provincial championship featured just the North, Northwest and Leinster which is one more pro team than Scotland or Holland can currently manage. Belfast Tim and Jacks Grandad will be glad to know that the "Northern Knights" won the 2013 interprovinvial championship "Leinster Lightning" ran them close while the "Northwest Warriors" finished bottom

If you're reading this thread then you're clearly interested in relations between Northern Irish Protestants and the rest of the islands population as well as being fascinated by all forms of cricket particularly the international game outside the test playing nations. You'll thus be interested to know that Northern Irish divine comedy frontman, and son of an anglican bishop, Neil Hannon joined forces with Dublin singer-songwriter Thomas Walsh to form a duo called The Duckworth Lewis Method that sing about cricket. The released their second album, "Sticky Wickets", this year. http://www.dlmethod.co.uk/audio/releases/the-duckworth-lewis-method They also came up with and alternative Irish national anthem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWuUcAjuWjQ

The current tally in all forms of the game is Ireland 6, Netherlands 0, 1 game abandoned. The dutch also lost all 4 of their meetings with Pakistan So it would appear that Green is the way to go. Which makes sense as it's going to be easier to read the field if they're all in dayglo jerseys.

Presumably to guarantee everybody at least 7 matches

Not much actual cricket going on at the moment but the big news is that Paul Collingwood (68 Tests for England, Average 40.56, 10 Test Centuries 2010 World T20 winning captain and 2013 County Championship winning captain with Durham) is taking on a coaching role with Scotland, ahead of their ICC T20 Qualification attempts. Given their recent record against their emerald clad neighbours Scotland probably fell fortunate to have avoided Ireland although could still face them in the labyrinthine playoff system that offers 2nd and 3rd chances to teams that don't win their groups. Group A: Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, Italy, Namibia, Uganda, USA and UAE Group B: Afghanistan, Bermuda, Denmark, Netherlands, Nepal, Kenya, Papua New Guinea and Scotland 6 teams go through in total Ireland must be strong favourites to top group A but Group B is wide open. Ireland and the Netherlands warm up by playing a friendly in Abu Dhabi beforehand while Scotland, with Paul Collingwood on board as a coach, warm up against the USA Ireland will be back out in the desert the following month to face Afghanistan in the longer form of the games for the ICC Intercontinental Cup Final (10th-14th December)

You mean LBW surely.