STEVIE B

Saudi money must be a carrot. Deontay Wilder has looked dreadful recently, but the money keeps him going. Can't be good for his physical & mental welfare.

That maybe true. Do you mean do something with the 4 day game ? That would take some doing. The 'A couple of pensioner's their dogs' crowd would take some addressing. I just don't think families, teenagers etc would watch the long game. Only my opinion though.

Belfast ? Joking aside, I'd love to go there & take in a bit of sport. Maybe boxing.

It gets the crowds & most kids wouldn't watch anything longer than a 50 over game. I never watch The Hundred, rarely any T20's (apart from Internationals). Counties wouldn't survive just playing 4 day cricket & one day games unfortunately.

Harborough have a very good set up. The clubhouse holds wedding receptions, parties, lots of other events too. The junior section is huge.....girls, ladies, veterans & walking football too. They had one of the biggest grass roots set-ups in the country, a few years back.

Saw Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds last night at Warwick Castle. He was superb. Never seen him live before, would thoroughly recommend. Brilliant set, half a dozen Oasis tracks thrown in too. Johnny Marr was supporting, he was very good. A great evening's entertainment.

....but they offer London.

Anderson isn't just being being used to prepare England for the next Ashes. His overall knowledge is gold dust. Personally, I'm not too concerned about England's batting, Bazball has been tailored to a degree & hopefully this approach is better down under, on quicker, bouncy tracks. The Windies are a fairly poor outfit as you say, but their bowling attack isn't too bad. Their batting was pinpointed as the problem, but looked ok yesterday ! It's all about opinions though.

Woakes won't go to Oz. England will take a pace attack. Wood, Atkinson (26 is not old), Archer, Potts, Tongue, Stone, Carse, Mahmood etc are all in the frame. Anderson has rarely done well in Australia. England have recognised that tall, quick pace bowlers is the way to go.

If he does, l reckon we probably avoid a relegation dog fight.

So your going to ignore the first 45 mins v Netherlands ? I agree we were poor, but we weren't the only ones.....France, Italy, The Dutch, Portugal, Germany as hosts for starters. Spain were far better than any side. Deserved winners.

Yawn.

Fontaines DC at the moment. Seeing them in Nottingham, November. Pretty damn good at Glastonbury on the tv. Looking forward to it.

It’s been mentioned that England already have their sights on the next Ashes series (16 months away). I don’t think the powers that be think he’s that effective in Oz (Woakes isn’t either & won’t go in my opinion). England want to take an attack of pure pace. Atkinson, Stone, Wood, Pennington, Archer (depends on fitness), Potts etc. Anderson will be missed without doubt, but will be great help as a mentor.

Noel Gallagher is playing there later this month, support is Johnny Marr.

Johnny Marr was excellent on Saturday (Bedford Summer Sessions), half of his set was The Smiths, great stuff ! James were sublime, as they generally are. Marr even joined them on stage to perform Laid.

I'm sure he will have a great send off. Maybe he doesn't want a bells & whistles last hurrah ? He'll still be involved with England as a mentor going forward, so l doubt there are any hard feelings.

The same could be said of France. Hopefully we get their luck. Again.

It's probably based on uk punters putting money on us. We wouldn't have been favourites in France, Spain, Italy etc.

Not necessarily. He may think we're nailed on to get relegated. May not want a basement battle from day 1.

He's off after this tournament, whatever happens.

Seeing James, Inspiral Carpets & Johnny Marr on Saturday, at Bedford. James doing their orchestral set, which was really good when l saw them at De Montfort.

Ronaldo acting like an under 8 on a Sunday morning, expecting tears soon. I know he was brilliant, but this is embarrassingly self indulgent.

'I would rather have a General who was lucky than one who was good'. Napoleon.