So we won

well after loads of brickbats and sarcastic comments from yours truly we won. A big round of applause for showing some fighting spirit.

So its time to consider the world cup XV.

I think there are two things to consider a) the captaincy and b) the wicketkeeper.

Vaughan is both injured and out of form. If he wasn't captain he wouldn't get in either the one day squad or test team on his form since becoming captain. Strauss is also not in the form of his life but he is fit and his form improved last summer when given the responsibility. Fred has so much else to do.

I don't know if Prior is good enough at the top level but he needs and deserves a run in both forms of the game.

we have a number of injured players Vaughan, Anderson, Pieterson and Lewis and so we can't take too many players whose fitness is questionable

So my starting XI
Strauss
Joyce
Bell
Pieterson
Collingwood
Flintoff
Prior
Dalrymple
Plunkett
Panesar
Anderson

the other 4?
Chapple - can bat as well as bowl
Broad
Shah

can't make my mind up over the 15th. Torn between Bopara and Mahmood. Not convinced by either of them.

I don't know what going off out there.....

I awoke to find the Aussies stroking their way along nicely. 170 for 1. And then what happens Collingwood catches a pearler, brilliant run outs. Gutsy play and we bowl them out for 252.

But no disaster we're 15 for 3 but NO again led by Collingwood we fight back and win.

We'll probably get stuffed in the next two games but round of applause lads for a really gutsy display.

What about this?

You have to ask what the point of last nights friendly was?

Surely we might as well experiment.

What would have been wrong with an eleven of

Foster, M Richards, Ferdinand, Woodgate, Shorey (Baines a possibility if fit), Barton, Lampard/Gerrard (45 mins each), Wright Phillips, Defoe, crouch (I suppose) although Dyer off Defoe might have been ok.

We know Lamps and Gerrard are fine players who can't play together. That line up would have given a number of players who had something to prove a game.

If he'd played Phil Neville in a holding mid-field role it would have been better as thats where he plays for his club. You can hardly blame Neville if the manager plays him out of position.

England Poor - AGAIN

Austin Healey said of the Rugby that it helped playing players in their normal position.

So will Mr McLaren please note Phil Neville is not a left back and Frank Lampard is not a left sided midfielder.

Will he also note you pick the best team and that is not necessarily the best players

THANK YOU

Credit where credits due

For months the England tour of Australia has been an embarassment. We went in to the last two games of the one day series needing to win both and hope that New Zealand wouldn't beat Australia.

The chances of us FINALLY beating Australia were slim! So imagine my surprise to hear Joyce get a 107 and to see some late order hitting push us to 292 for 7 . This was a score I fully expected the Aussies to pass but it was competitve.

Imagine my still further surprise when that "superb" new ball attack of Plunkett and Mahmood reduced the Aussies to 4 for 2 and we cruised to a 92 run win.

The Aussies were set 291 to beat the Kiwi's and did it! So all was set for the "BIG" showdown between England and New Zealand. A 100 frm Collingwood set the foundations and Dalrymple and Plunkett rescued us from a mediocre score in the 250's to 270 for 7.

The Kiwi's always looked to be in control after an awful new ball spell but credit to the lads Plunkett and Collingwood each took two wickets to reduce the Kiwi's from 203 for 3 to 224 for 7 and when Freddie removed the Kiwi centurion and captain Stephen Fleming victory was assured.

I think the Kiwi's have been the better side BUT when the chips were down the lads delivered and that must be applauded.

So we are in the final half the team are crocked and I know we have no chance but hope springs eternal.

Go Jonny Go

I am not a big Rugby fan its just the internationals that capture my imagination. Perhaps it was having welsh sports teachers who were devastated when Bill Beaumont's mob did the grand slam.

It was with some trepidation that I turned the telly on to watch the England v Scotland game. We had been stuffed by all and sundry but Jonny was back. Wilkinson the man who had not played for England since winning the world cup was back and ........ wow can the man read the script. He did everything stitches, blood, guts, class, a "bit" of luck. He was well served by the return of Billy Whizz Jason Robinson, Andy Farrell after only eight games did his job well and Harry Ellis stepped up to the plate.

Perhaps equally pertinent were the commens of Austin Healey when he said "everyone was played in there normal position". Exactly sport isn't rocket science.

We won't win the world cup, I doubt we'll win the six nations. There were too many mistakes too little time but we looked like a team!