He was doing some fielding yesterday, so I agree it's probably nothing. If I had to guess he probably got a bit of sand in his eye and rubbed it, causing the scratch.

As for the comments about spinners taking wickets, the pitches over there seem to be getting slower and lower, see the Stanford games for proof of that. Of course some pitches will still have lots of "Pace and Bounce" (C) Michael Holding, but I can see some of them taking quite a decent amount of turn.

who do they think they are . shane spin king'' warne. shiek of tweek

What's a shiek?

And why use the second best spinner in the world, if you're going to strive to be somebody as a spin bowler, it'd be better if you aimed for number 1.

The following players have been put forward for the this years IPL auction.

Bopara
Panesar
Key
Foster
Mahmood
Prior
Bell
Collingwood
Shah
Udal
Gough
Sidebottom
Swann
Wright
KP
Flintoff
Harmison
Anderson
Joyce
Cork

I didn't know Goughy was after a last big payday!!

Out of that list I'd be very surprised if more than half actually get contracts. Not just because England are rubbish in limited-overs cricket, but because of the sums of money that are being quoted to have these players for about 3 weeks. Cricinfo is saying KP's going to get $1m but if the ECB has reached an agreement with the IPL saying that centrally contracted players are only going for 3 weeks it represents abysmal value for money.

Plus there's the likes of Harmison, who turns off the 'bothered' switch as soon as he checks his bags in at Heathrow. You'd be an absolute mug to pay him £200k for three weeks where Brendon McCullum and Virender Sehwag will cart him to all parts.


Did I mention I'm not really a fan of this Twenty20 b0llocks?

Really?



Neither, it would appear, is Stuart Broad who has decided to prepare for a big summer of international action by playing some real cricket rather than chasing the rupee.

Stuart Broad has got years left to 'chase the rupee'. A fair few on that list are just topping up their pension fund.

I like the way Dominic Cork has sneaked in there as well.

Fair play if one of the IPL clubs is enough of a mug to give you a contract. i'd say its far more likely he'll turn up in the ICL, assuming thats still going in a couple of years.

WI 'A' 343-2 Oh dear.

Will Ian Bell's 52 be enough to save him???

If anyone wants to join the fantasy cricket then feel free....

To join the league,

Step 1: Go to Cricinfo Fantasy Cricket

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Step 3: Create a team for yourself (this step is optional if you already have one)

Step 4: Click on 'Join a League' on the Left Hand Navigation

Step 5: On the page which appears, select your team, copy and paste the unique invitation code(LPIN) generated for you as shown below

Step 6: You are now a member of the league - all set to play Cricinfo Fantasy Cricket

Your Unique Invitation Code:

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Looking forward to have you as part of the league

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Mr 2nd place will join.

Just found out this test series is under the "appeal rule" bout time England accepted it, no more dodgy Rudi Koertzen decisions.

There is a new appeal system for disputed dismissals starting in the the first Test. Here is a synopsis of how it will work:

* A trial system of referring disputed dismissals is being used in the series, the first time England have taken part.

* The trial method, approved by the ICC, has previously allowed teams to make three unsuccessful referrals per innings but that number has been reduced to two to save time and discourage the art of trying it on.

* Either side can ask for the television umpire to review a decision. The fielding captain might think an appeal was wrongly rejected, a batsman that he has been unfairly given out.

What time does the test start today?

bring this in for the ashes

3pm UK time mate

I dunno if it's been mentioned. But Hair-gate has now been awarded an England [url=http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12343_4881260,00.htmlwin[/url again.

Anderson and Shah left out. Team as follows:

1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Ian Bell, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Ryan Sidebottom, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 Monty Panesar.

Strauss wins toss and England will bat first in around 15 mins time.

Bell..

I have stuck up for him in the past, but he really has to do it.

Agreed, I think he's lucky that Shah isn't really a number three. He really must be in last chance saloon now though, but you know that he'll get the whole series so he can relax a tad.

Collingwood needs to watch out, Shah will be breathing down his neck, he looks a Test Match number 5.

Trouble is, by not selecting Shah for this series, if Bell has a shocker then its basically Shah's first decent run in the team....during the ashes. All the recent uncertainty regarding captains can't have helped.

Strauss gone 8/1.

He'd already been dropped once.

Where has it come about that Shah isnt a number 3???
He's batted at 3 for Middlesex for years.