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Showing content with the highest reputation on 05/01/22 in all areas

  1. I`ll place him in the transfer thread squad list then.
    3 points
  2. I think Ross Wilson has taken Goldson too literally here when he said we were lacking hunger.
    3 points
  3. I signed it on principle, but it is a closed shop. I doubt you will see many MPs of any party criticise the award.
    2 points
  4. Pull that off and we'd better think up a song in praise of Ross Wilson.
    2 points
  5. 😂😂😂😂, a wee wind up on Twitter fishing for BEASTS
    2 points
  6. 2 points
  7. Sands is versatile, which always sounds good, but do they actually work out? Is he another Polster?
    2 points
  8. Done Deal. Well done young man. https://rng.rs/3pVaHHv
    2 points
  9. Do we have to call them USMNT? He doesn't look like he'd get a game for (what is presumably called) USWNT, does he.
    1 point
  10. Played 7 times at CB for USMNT resulting in 6 clean sheets (No idea who they were up against in those 6 games).
    1 point
  11. 1 point
  12. He seems to play RB, CB and DM, from what I've read. I'd imagine he's been brought in as back up/eventual replacement for Tav or Kamara but that just a guess.
    1 point
  13. Assuming that you havent already got it on I will get your coat....
    1 point
  14. Euros or sterling? Edit - sorry, didn't notice the link. Sterling it is.
    1 point
  15. THE ASHES | GIDEON HAIGH The Ashes might be having an existential crisis – but here Test cricket meandered slowly on Gideon Haigh, Sydney Wednesday January 05 2022, 9.00am, The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-ashes-might-be-having-an-existential-crisis-but-here-test-cricket-meandered-slowly-on-h0bhr360b Late yesterday afternoon, the Sydney Cricket Ground was bathed in milky sunshine. Steve Smith was playing and missing at James Anderson. Usman Khawaja was bending beneath some hostile Mark Wood bouncers. The players cast lengthening shadows. The crowd sat in rapt attendance, enjoying proceedings. They had deserved it. Australia 126 for three in 46.5 overs: this was the very definition of an indeterminate day’s cricket, involving not quite enough play to render proceedings meaningful, not quite enough rain to make them redundant. The pitch was slow, so that bouncers had to be pitched very short, and thrice sailed over Jos Buttler’s head. There were phases of equatorial humidity, cooler lulls. David Warner began promisingly, cheery enough to nod when his outside edge was beaten, vigilant enough to retaliate when a bowler sought that edge again. But he mistook a nick off Ben Stokes wide of Crawley for impunity, and second time round did not nick Stuart Broad quite wide enough, departing with tosses of the head and of the bat. Marcus Harris battled, as Marcus Harris does, and has all summer, commendably if not convincingly. He pulled Broad for four early, drove Stokes through the covers off the back foot later. But the next ball beat the edge, and James Anderson nicked him off soon after. The late loss of Marnus Labuschagne made the day narrowly England’s, if anyone felt confident enough to claim it. Otherwise the day unfolded in that way Test cricket sometimes has of looking both leisurely and pedantic, with no particular haste about anything. There were replays, drinks runs, dickering around the sight screens. There were Australian mid-pitch conferences, English councils of war. Sawdust was laid with utmost seriousness. Ball inspections requested by Root led eventually to a full-fledged replacement, the umpires fondling the contents of a case of Kookaburras like shoppers subtly squeezing avocados. English cricket might be ailing; the Ashes might be having an existential crisis; but Test cricket can be relied upon to continue as though it has all the time in the world. The fastest thing on show all day was Adam Lewis’s ground staff, whose choreography in the three rain breaks was impressive. One enjoyed the rapid origami of configuring the covers, the slow striptease of their removal. The songs on the public address system then not addressed to the climate (Hard Rain Gonna Fail, Have You Ever Seen the Rain, I Can’t Stand the Rain, Gimme Shelter) occasionally seemed to offer slants on contemporary events, whether Bohemian Rhapsody for Chris Silverwood (‘If I’m not back again this time tomorrow/Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters’) or Come Together to Novak Djokovic (‘Got to be a joker he just do what he please’). Ashes days often remind you of earlier Ashes days. And fittingly, given Khawaja’s return to the colours for this match, some in what is now the Richie Benaud Media Centre were minded of his debut on this ground in 2011. It was another rain-affected first day of a dead Test. Australia finished at four for 134 on a day restricted by rain to 59 overs. Khawaja batted a couple of hours for 37. After some brouhaha about his selection, he was the story. But could enough be conjured from a score of 37 to justify writing about it? Ah, we could but try. Was it success? Was it failure? What were the 37’s stand out moments? Where did it rank alongside the great 37s in history? It was the opposite of those people who cram the Lord’s Prayer onto the back of postage stamps; it was like stretching a haiku across a billboard. Veterans of that day felt some self-consciousness about overanalysing yesterday’s 38 by Marcus Harris. Still, perhaps we should be grateful there was cricket yesterday at all, such is the anxiety round this series. Right now the corridors of uncertainty are now in the respective team hotels. There is almost nowhere left for this Ashes to go, unless someone devises a way for the players to work from home. With ten minutes to go, rain sprinkled again. The players paused, the umpires hesitated, then nodded, the Australian pair sprinted off. The strains of How Soon Is Now? wafted over the ground. Nobody cried and wanted to die when they went home presumably, but it had not been a day to win the five-day form any new fans.
    1 point
  16. THE ASHES | MIKE ATHERTON The Ashes: Spirited Mark Wood shows England the way on stop-start day in Sydney SCG (day one of five; Australia won toss): Australia have scored 126 runs for three wickets Mike Atherton, Chief Cricket Correspondent Wednesday January 05 2022, 9.00am, The Times The underdogs fought tigerishly. On a good pitch in foreign climes, they showed it was possible to put the disadvantages of the schedule and conditions and status of the opposition to one side, and play bright, attractive and winning Test cricket. But enough of Bangladesh in Mount Maunganui. Here in Sydney, on a mostly gloomy, overcast and humid day, at least the rain-reduced exchanges were competitive for the most part. Both captains wanted to bat — Pat Cummins got the choice — but it felt like a bowling day, with the high humidity evidenced by shirts that clung damply, even after an over or two, to the bodies of the England bowlers. Rain reduced the over count by a half, and much of that action took place with the floodlights on full beam, until late in the day when the sun shone for the first time and, counterintuitively, two of the three wickets fell. England’s attack was bolstered by the return of Stuart Broad who duly picked up the wicket of David Warner — for a 13th time — but who was otherwise nullified in half-century partnerships for the first and second wicket. James Anderson’s two spells, of six overs in the morning, and seven in the evening were the pick, and the other opener, Marcus Harris, fell to him, while Mark Wood’s electric pace did for Marnus Labuschagne for the second time in consecutive Tests. Wood has only netted six wickets in this series, but three of them have been big fish — Labuschagne twice, and Steve Smith once. His figures are, in a sense, unremarkable but as Zak Crawley said in a different context before the match, statistics can be misleading (not that misleading, Zak) and England have certainly benefited from Wood’s wholehearted endeavour. Oh that the team could tap into more of his spirit. Wood is the kind of cricketer Richie Benaud would have endorsed, enjoying as he did players who connected with the general public. There was a reminder of Benaud the day before the Test began when the media centre was named for him. The unveiling, presided over by his wife Daphne, saw his famous bone-white jacket encased, and a quote engraved into the wall. “An Australian way of life,” is the one used, which is how he described the game here. Three hours before play, it was a sentiment with which it was hard to disagree, as the lines for the members’ entrance snaked into the distance in the park beside the ground. Ashes decided and dead rubber it may be, but there is an appetite to watch the Poms being ground into the dust, and for live sport after two years of wretched restrictions. The roar that greeted the entrance of Cummins for the toss, told a tale. Broad had been described by the acting head coach Graham Thorpe as a “caged tiger” in the days before the game, and he certainly looked eager for action, and was out in the middle bowling to the coaches moments before the anthems were held. No doubt he was looking forward again to crossing swords with Warner, given their battles in England and given Broad’s frustration in having missed out on the helpful pitches in Brisbane and Melbourne. As it happens, Broad’s opening spell was less incisive than Anderson’s and Warner had the better of the early exchanges, simply by virtue of being at the other end for the most part. When he did get some strike, his driving was especially pleasing, sending three drives skimming to the fence in the opening exchanges, and dominating the scoring. Harris picked off one boundary to a short ball from Broad, but otherwise was happy to watch Warner take the lead. Rain brought two stoppages in the opening session, the first after just four overs and the second, after a dozen, bringing an early lunch. Given the stop-start nature of the morning, and the difficulties that entails for batsmen, who must get themselves in time and again against fresh bowlers, both openers did well to get to the break. While the pitch was dry, the morning felt more like Colombo than Sydney. Strangely, Root began with Ben Stokes after lunch. A basic principle of captaincy is that you start each session with your best two bowlers for the conditions, but Root, too often, eases into a session with his third or fourth best options, which he also did after lunch on the second day in Melbourne, with Jack Leach. As a result, England often drift into a session, as they did here, rather than attack it with intent. With a brace of no-balls, and a ballooning bouncer that went for five wides over Jos Buttler’s head, Stokes did not threaten, although one edge from Warner evaded Crawley’s dive at second slip by a whisker. Crawley is a good slip fieldsman, as Warner was soon to discover, but in this instance a one-handed effort, instead of two, would have allowed him a little further reach to the ball and might have made the difference. Warner’s urgency and decisiveness was mirrored in his running between the wickets and he looked as fluent as he has done all series. Maybe overconfidence as a result played its part, but looking for a half-volley where none existed, Warner offered a loose drive at Broad and that was that. With the Ashes gone, it felt like something of a hollow victory for the bowler and a reminder of what might have been had the rain gods been kinder in the run-up to the Gabba. But, then, the counterfactuals can be raised whenever you want. How many wickets, for example, would Australia have taken had they bowled here on the first day? Who knows, but against England’s batting line-up, it is not hard to imagine a slightly different outcome. Only nine overs were possible in the middle session and when, just before drinks in the evening session, only one wicket had fallen and Harris had begun to look a completely different batsman from the tentative player who began the series, a familiar tale beckoned Harris, slow but secure, had taken two delicious boundaries in the evening. His first mistake, an indeterminate poke in the middle of a good spell from Anderson, who worked the left-hander over by alternating his angle of attack, was his last. Smith, looking a nervy starter in this series, was beaten on the outside edge and Usman Khawaja, given a fine welcome on the ground of his upbringing and a hostile one from Wood, got off the mark with a thunderous pull. It was the final act of a not especially significant day — unless you were a Bangladesh cricketer, of course.
    1 point
  17. Australia first innings Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s David Warner c Crawley b Broad 30 72 6 0 Marcus Harris c Root b Anderson 38 109 4 0 Marnus Labuschagne c Buttler b Wood 28 59 4 0 Steven Smith Not Out 6 23 1 0 Usman Khawaja Not Out 4 22 1 0 Cameron Green Yet to Bat 0 0 0 0 Alex Carey Yet to Bat 0 0 0 0 Pat Cummins Yet to Bat 0 0 0 0 Mitchell Starc Yet to Bat 0 0 0 0 Nathan Lyon Yet to Bat 0 0 0 0 Scott Boland Yet to Bat 0 0 0 0 Extras 4lb 0 12w 4nb 20 Total for 3 126 46.5 overs Bowler O M R W James Anderson 13 4 24 1 Stuart Broad 11 3 34 1 Ben Stokes 10 3 30 0 Mark Wood 10 3 31 1 Jack Leach 2 0 3 0 Fall of wickets Order Name Runs 1 David Warner 51 2 Marcus Harris 111 3 Marnus Labuschagne 117 Umpires P R Reiffel, R J Tucker, P Wilson, S A J Craig, S R Bernard Australia Marcus Harris, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland England Haseeb Hameed, Zak Crawley, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Mark Wood, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad, James Anderson https://www.theguardian.com/sport/cricket/match/2022-01-05/england-cricket-team
    1 point
  18. I see no reason why we can't just talk about it for another 30 pages.
    1 point
  19. Superb stuff. He can go south when we are ready for him to do so.
    1 point
  20. Selling Morelos in Jan will be really risky in terms of the title. As such if we are going to any fee would have to be huge.
    1 point
  21. Well, Craig David got an MBE for 'services to music'.
    1 point
  22. These stupid awards like the monarchy should be abolished
    1 point
  23. The CCP controlling Chinas social media via Twitter and Facebook equivalents like Weibo is exactly the same as Americas big tech corporations controlling ours and why people have dived right in to it I'll never know.
    1 point
  24. It's nice to see Aunty Beeb taking a more objective approach... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59865108 "It really is not affordable, sustainable or probably even needed to vaccinate everyone on the planet every four to six months,"
    1 point
  25. Gender fluidity. A cause dear to the hearts of the terminally trendy. Civil litigations will follow from prisoners who menstruate, sexually assaulted by men who identify as women, seeking quite justifiable redress from the government which put them at unnecessary risk of such attack.
    1 point


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