St Jim

They have an excellent bowling attack. If Pattinson and Stark are firing we could be in for a rough ride, that said they lack a world class spinner (Lyon is a very useful spinner and will chip in with the odd wicket or two but he's not a match winner and not in the same class as Swann or even Panesar). Also time will tell whether Pattinson and Stark can adapt to the Duke ball and the English conditions (I expect Stark to natrually go better with the Duke) Australia's weakest part of the team is their batting and their team selection. They are prone to top-order collapses and also prone to knee-jerk reactions resulting in chopping and changing the line up. If our batsmen deal well with Stark and Pattinson (and Harris if he plays - top bowler but always injured) then I think we'll win the series comfortably but if we don't it's going to be close!

What would everyone prefer, Chris Froome to win the General Classification or Mark Cavendish to take a further 4-6 stages including on the Champs Elysee and take a step close to the all time record of stage wins?

Won't be 5-0. Darren 'Boof' Lehmann will inspire the players and he's supposed to be highly regarded as a coach and he's done a good job for Queensland but he's also got a reputation as a lad and likes a drink which may not be all that appropriate for the Aussie team given their recent off field antics and may be at odds with some players such as Clarke.

.........

Couldn't see another thread on this (apologies if one has already been started) so thought we needed one to discuss all things Ashes. First up, breaking news is that the Aussie coach has just been sacked, just 16 days before the opening test. http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2013/content/current/story/644797.html On the face of it, it looks like they are in disarray but if Boof Lehman is installed he'll get the best out of what he's got.

They are a lot worse than the Sun.

Do you believe everything written in the Mirror?

That would look amazing in red & white (with black trim where the lighter blue is)

I'm not sure you can really use a meaningless friendly between a top team in one league and an poor second tier team in another league to compare the relative top tiers between the two leagues.

What's this 'predominant colour' policy? I don't get your point, many teams play with multiple colours and have shorts a different colour from their tops.

Apparently, from what I've heard (and I keep my sources secret so no point in asking - they are ITK though), we will be unveiling our kit before the beginning of the season and it will have red on it. In addition, I have been reliably informed that we will be making a signing before 31 August. Just thought I'd share the info.

Well done Justin Rose!!

I wonder if that says more about the England selection process than anything else

OK I didn't see that, was looking at the English translation but my question is still relevant (see highlighted in the below) Either it's EUR9.5m or $10m. There's a big difference between them (either GBP8m or GBP6.3m and that's the assumption that the dollar refers to US Dollars which given he plays in South America I assume that it would be)

What currency is that? Dollars, pounds or whatever Uruguay use?

Corrected it for you

Seriously what the f***did you expect? As for the second highlighted bit, tell me how does this serve to show he is not a Premiership manager? Obviously he's not one now because Reading are Championship but who are we to judge his Premiership managerial credentials just because he takes an approach that doesn't conform to the 'norm'. He should only be judged on his results and he was cutting it at the time he was sacked, particularly if you exclude the beginning of the season (which I believe to be an anomaly give the teams we had to play and the settling into Premiership football) and take into account he out performed a manager who was touted as being the next England manager.

Golac doesn't count as his only cap for Yugoslavia was in 1976 when he was playing for Patrizan Belgrade - we signed him in 1978.

Don't know if LBM meets the criteria. He was a registered Saints player when he played for Portugal (first cap was Apr01) but he was on loan to Fulham at the time who bought him in the summer of 2001.

Northern Ireland (Jim Magilton & Ian Dowie)

I note that he has been loosely mentioned before on this thread but a mate at work (Liverpool fan) suggested that on various Liverpool sites Saints are monitoring Erik Lamela. Don't know a lot about him other than what Wiki and YouTube can offer but he seems like a real prospect.

Most amusing, will be even more amused if it is some ridiculous pairing such as BoJo & Milliband. No doubt it'll be two people no one cares about.

Too Arsenal for me.

At first I didn't mind the design but after seeing this, taken from a recent celebrity & ex-pros charity match, seeing the kit being worn I really hope we stay well clear if that design - it's awful Click on Link to Video clip from Guardian Click on Link to Video & Pictures from the Daily Mail

Very sad news! I can not imagine the pain he and his partner must be suffering right now. Hearing news like this always puts into perspective what is really important in life. RIP Teddy Noah!