David Kelly

Thought exactly the same about the red priestess. She looks the sort to get them out so lets not be dragging that out.

Seems pretty much the same as the last one with just a change from blue trim to yellow/gold/shiny mustard and no blue trim on the lower side. It's ok, nowt offensive (other than the sponsor) but I've not bought one for years and it won't make me buy one now.

Seems to be bowling alright against Durham today. At Edgbaston like. They might give that Ball a go instead of Woakes like. Woakes isn't bad but as Agnew was saying on TMS the other day, whenever you mention his name to an England fan their shoulders just slump.

It's worrying that I would consider this a positive outcome.

Shit I hope it's not Rafa they're after.

Wow that's out of the blue.

Congrats SEW. Say goodbye to sleep for a few year.

Shame it ended up being such a one sided test. I can see the same happening at Durham this week. Although Woakes raplacing the injured Stokes might even things up a touch.

Thought it was a good episode. Good amount of action, bit of Sansa developing, some comedy gold with Brienne, some good information about the past that I didn't see coming and some nice tits. Ticked pretty much all the boxed for me.

Get in

Poor keeping from de gay. Angles all wrong

Leazes was right all along.

I was going to go but I'm going to the euros so was struggling for time and money.

Canny start with the ball.

Not the best from Ali there. We were looking good for 300+ a couple of overs ago now 250 isn't looking so close.

Aye dug in well but you would say he should have made it to three figures today.

Aye I'm not suggesting we change anything at this stage. Hales is only in his second series (and SA away was hardly a gentle introduction for him even if they did have injuries) and I don't think Compton did as bad as some seem to be suggesting. I think they need to be given at least this series.

I suppose the counter to that would be that something is broken in the top order that regularly leaves us 50 for 3 and 100 for 5. Compton and Hales are obviously the ones under pressure. If they can't do it then you have to look at who can. Butler is the one who is in and around the squad who could come in. If not you're looking at bringing back one of the discarded players like Bell or Balance or looking to uncapped players like Rushworth?

I hope they lose tomorrow. He'll be unbarable if they win.

Fuck I'll have to change it then

Despite being shit for a while now, I think we have got our moneys worth from Gouffran in his early days. Pardew's influence on the club has been massive IMO. It may be from Ashley's direction but I think Pardew played a huge part in changing the outlook of the club to being one that can't compete any more. That hungover onto McClaren and it's took Rafa to lift things. Which says something when you consider we've just been relegated.

Compton needs a score to keep himself in the team like. He was probably the only batsman who didn't get out by just playing a shit shot yesterday but a duck certainly keeps the pressure on him. I'd be surprised if they made any undforced changes before the next test but their sure to be keeping an eye on him. They could move Vince up to 3 and put Bairstow in at 5. Mind you Butler's done hardly any keeping recently so it wouldn't be ideal to bring him straight back into the test team.

Ben Arfa was/is a quality footballer but there's definitely question marks overs his attitude. Didn't he go on strike at Marsielle to force a move here in the first place? I still think a half competent manager could have sorted him out mind. And no one will ever convince me Pardew is that.

I wonder if that article is in the printed version of the Echo. If it is, it's no wonder the print media is going down the pan. You expect a bit of bias but you also expect journalists to be able to come up with facts and not resort to name calling. I'd expect better from Ryder and he's a fucking joke.

Again, the people who brought us the team are responsible. Be that for recommending poor players (Carr), not being able to coach/motivate them (McClaren), allowing McClaren to stay in charge too long or be in charge in the first place (Carr & Charnley), for not allowing us to address the weaknesses in the squad (Ashley, Charnley, Carr possibly) and for making the club one that the players don't give a fuck about (Ashley). I'm not aportioning all the blame on Carr or saying that he had no successes. We all know it ultimately falls on Ashleys door but those under him (Charnley, Carr, McClaren, Pardew) have all failed us too. As I said earlier, in Carr's case, I believe his biggest failings probably come from him being given too much power in certain areas.