Thursday round up

So lets get straight down to the 'nitty gritty' and I can tell you that the little Lady Lainey waving the windmill in the picture would no doubt be battering someone with it if she was in NZ.

The warm up for the test match was taking place and Bell made 158 as England reached 426 all out . Joe Root was selected to play and made a good start with 49. However KP, back in to do his best, made 14 ( windmill battering ahoy!). Broad was also included, obviously desperate to prove his fitness  and made 14 ( windmill battering ahoy and doubt he will be fit for the test!). Lets see how it goes on today New Zealand are currently on  224-6.

Lets also hope that Bell can keep that smug look off his face!.( windmill where are you???)

The drugs testing debate trundles onto its second day with Michael Vaughan putting his oar in. His statement that if there was regularly testing it would be a starting point to potentially wiping it out completely. HHMMMMMM????? That is obvious!


Paul Smith who played for Warwickshire in the 1990's and was banned for drug taking, also talked about the testing and as he has first hand experience of drugs his comments seemed more viable. I saw Paul play many times in the '90's and he was a talented, man who looked to have a good career ahead of him. After being banned by the ECB he appeared to be in the wilderness. He now works for The Princes Trust and also is involved with ComptonCC a Los Angeles based cricket team which counts ex gang members on the team.


Sussex have announced losses of £325,000, however the BBC sports page lost the link so no further news on that.

The MCC committee are trying to get T20 cricket included into the 2024 Olympics. They believe that this could be great boost to the game, I believe if clubs lowered their  prices it would make the game more accessible to families #justmyopinion.
The committee who met in Auckland over the last two days ( nice little jolly!) said that the earliest that they could lobby to  be included was 2024, The T20 format being the best way to showcase the game.

NORTH EAST WEATHER WATCH

After yesterdays dismal start and then glorious sunshine, its looking similar for today, so get the washing hung on the line, get your skirt on ( ladies only) and get out at lunchtime to bask in some much needed vitamin D restoring sun.

Pony Paul is back today so the phone will not stop ringing and he is bound to fall out with an Architect. I will be doing my usual, drinking gallons of coffee (in my new coffee cup thank you RMFC) and looking pretty.

So until tomorrow