Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Here are my ratings for the England team in the one-day international series against Australia. Why don't you tell us yours?

Andrew Strauss 7 - and he took that form into the one-dayers. A couple of fifties at the and , although he will be disappointed he didn't convert those into hundreds.

Ravi Bopara 4 - Seven opportunities to shine, and he managed a high score of only 49. at the moment, his running between the wickets is skittish, and it is difficult to see how the selectors can continue to pick him.

Joe Denly 6 - Missed the start of the series because of a , but showed plenty of potential when he did finally get a run. His 53 at the Riverside included some very assured strokes.

Read the rest of this entry

The idea of my dad or any of his cabbie mates not knowing who the best heavyweight boxer in Britain was would have been, well, it just wouldn't have happened.

When it comes to certain topics, , , except angrier. And when cabbies have stopped chirping about boxing, you know the sport must be in trouble.

So when my cabbie the other night announced that he didn't know who was, I was understandably shocked, to the extent that my cabbie felt the need to apologise. "Sorry mate, dunno who he is. Used to love a bit of boxing, but it's not on TV any more. Is it?" Haye, in case anyone doesn't know, is the best heavyweight boxer in Britain.

Floyd Mayweather is a former five-weight world champion - but not boxing's Bolt

Read the rest of this entry

If you pay a hundred quid to see and Jude loses his voice, an understudy will step in. If there's a leak in the roof, someone will stick a bucket underneath it. If there's a creaky stage, there's a creaky stage. The show, as those theatre types are fond of saying, must go on.

Theatre is an entertainment. On the evidence of , international cricket considers itself otherwise. How else to explain the Twenty thousand paying customers and the highlight was a middle-aged ex-cricketer periodically poking his umbrella into a circle of mud.

Twenty thousand paying customers frustrated by a couple of circles of mud - it's worth repeating. Why those circles of mud were there, we'll come back to later.

Read the rest of this entry