GodEmperor Palpatine

They do judging by the Australian fans reactions and taunts about Diana etc and then defending what they say... That's not banter, that's nothing to do with sport.. its crossing a line.

I was just about to say how classless Clarke was... As a captain you should set the example not mouth off to a number 11.

See they are as original as ever, the ingrates...

The fashionable county side selection has come in more after Tressies career.

I would agree with your reasoning about Compton not playing for a fashionable side.. The only criticism regarding Compton as stated earlier is he plays at a snails pace and takes him an age to settle at test level, unfortunately the modern day tests would require him to score a lot quicker than he does.

That's what you get now, getting the same as international football before where previous managers picked players from the reputation of their club rather than individual ability. Any great cricketers now have to move to a fashionable club to be considered...

I would agree with you on the 'keeper situation, I would like to see him given the chance with the gloves to and would add another dynamic to the batting, Prior is a great wicketkeeper but as a batsman he is unpredictable and think Bairstow would add steel down the order and form good partnerships with Root and Broad.. also he would help the tail along. A very good batsman at county level and while its a step up to international level he needs to be given the opportunity for the long term future. Watch out for Jos Buttler now as well I would say as he has moved to Lancashire, could easily be in contention in the not so distant future for the keeper position.

Absoutely, puts pressure on Bell and Pietersen to quicken it up and then the lower order get wild... shouldn't be like that. Cook and Trott are fully capable of scoring runs quicker than they do. Hopefully the weather gods will quieten the natives down and it will dull out into a draw

That's the problem with Englands batting especially the top order, they are ultra negative and get themselves into the mire.. I know its test but you should be looking at a run rate of 3.30 these days not 2 or less at times especially against ordinary bowling. At least Carberry showed aggression to begin with though.

Well that was.... awful. The sad thing was the bowling was pretty ordinary as well.

Which an Australian player did in the last series down under. Beefy was not pleased.

I suppose you could argue that it wasn't played in the spirit of the game but its like you said earlier.. In football if the ball crosses the line and the officials have missed it then its highly doubtful the opposition will point out it did cross the line. By the way the e in bold there? Was that for my benefit fella as I made a couple of faux pas without realising first haha

Australia had the chance to review... oh wait they didn't, they wasted them on frivolous lbw appeals.

Exactly my point, he didn't have to walk if the umpire didn't raise the finger and he was perfectly in his right to stay at the crease unless told otherwise.. like any batsman.

Poor Mitch.. McGrath was just a fierce competitor and a brilliant bowler, he is 10x the player Johnson is now. That's not to say though on his day Johnson can produce it but I hope the Barmy Army get in his head again, that song is class.

Means every batsman ever is probably a cheat... Broad is no bigger cheat than Ponting, Clarke etc...

I am sure the Barmy Army will be happy to reciprocate the abuse Even with the sledging it seems the same, Convicts happy to dish it but couldn't take it back... Glenn McGrath being the prime example, some of the responses by opposing batsmen towards him were classic.

Good to see Clarke being exposed yet again. He's a fantastic batsman but it does seem England have his number now... Here's hoping that the dominance is here to stay for quite some time Judging by our bowling attack it may just be with the likes of Finn and Rankin on the fringe, batting looks potentially strong and it'll be interesting to see how Carberry gets on, just hope Mitchell Johnson isn't going to have one of his 'better spells'... he is a dangerous bowler when on song.

Course they don't, its win at all costs. I think the point I was making regarding the Courier Mail is that its seems petty and hypocritical of them to be slating Broad for 'cheating' when their own are well renowned for not walking when they should. Its good that Broad is using all this negative press/abuse/booing towards him to a positive effect.

And the Aussies haven't then ever I take it? Plus its not in the rules, if the umpire hasn't given him out then he doesn't have to walk until otherwise.. plenty of batsmen have done this in the past and they are perfectly in their right to do so.

Just saw this on the England's Barmy Army Page on Facebook... 'The Courier Mail just is not learning, today they have no pictures or comment about Stuart Broad and instead say "the player, who thrives on the notoriety of openly cheating." Lets hope they keep up this pathetic campaign as clearly it is helping him play better. Sunny here this morning so should be a batting paradise once our batsmen have negotiated the new ball and we get the last 2 convicts out.' Can only agree, be great to see Broad get the final 2 wickets in the first session and really stick it to the natives

Don't get me wrong India have some fantastic players and their support is fanatical bordering lunatic fringe but is first class. I just think the powers that be within India have far too much power and seem to dictate how they want the modern game played.

Not really, I dislike India because they have too much swaying power within the ICC. Not having DRS is one thing but refusing to play other countries away with DRS then throwing a paddy about it so they don't have to is another and that's why I plumped for Australia then. As much as I want England to win 5-0, it wont be a stroll in the park.. Australia ran England close over here and should've picked up 2 wins if it wasn't for the weather in one test and Broads magic spell in the other.. 3-0 was a little flattering for us although very sweet.

As traitorous as it sounds I like Australia and was rooting for them in their recent ODI series with India (simply because I don't like India) but hopefully we'll beat them with relative ease in their own backyard maybe 2 or 3-0. Their bowling attack is half decent but their batting line-up is questionable. Watching the interviews on Sky Sports with the Aussie players made me laugh they way they are so arrogant and it would be nice to ram it straight down there media outlets throats who clearly have tried and failed to get to Broady. BARMY ARMY

I would agree with you on the going back to in the shell but that's been a trait that City have suffered for years.. I hope SOD can stamp that out and soon.