Braces himself with his arms on the way down. Must be a strong lad, but it has me worrying there's going to be a lot of bruised ribs and wrists around the Blackburn parks this week

Savage isn't disciplined enough in my opinion, so much so that I'm unsure what type of player he is. He's not got the ability to sit in midfield and protect the back four, nor has he got the ability on the ball to dictate a game. I suppose you could say he's just a quality central midfielder because he does a bit of it all to a certain degree, but not enough of any of it to excel - a jack of all trades if you will. Personally I think he's just a high energy player useful for setting the tempo, past that he's pretty average. I'd much rather see Mokoena start, he gives the team a greater sense of freedom going forward knowing he's there to protect the back four, our own Makalele.

We're going to get spanked playing that formation, you can't 'have a go' against a team that can play football 10 times better than you and expect to get anything. T'Axe should have been protecting the back four in my opinion, especially considering the formation they play. Hopefully I'm wrong

Barry Ferguson.....oh, no wait we got him didn't we. Fabulous player

Hands up who wouldn't take that and thanks the heavens.

You do injustice to the word shambles As for Nelsen, I'm not sure how much homework Hughes and his boys had to do. They probably just saw him play for DC United a few times, brought him in on trial for a week and offered him a contract. He's clearly a talent, no matter what level he was playing when they first spotted him. Mokoena is the one I'm most impressed with; he looks absolutely pants at the back, yet he's sublime in the defensive midfield role. Excellent scouting

I assume you mean Custer? The comparisons aren't there, unless the Aussies were slaughtered due to the arrogance of one man

Crapity crap crap, this is too tense and much too close. The top order has bottled it and dropped everyone right in it again

The bloke's a genius

Martyn nicks one to G. Jones, 161-4.

Kuqi couldn't score in a brothel, but I figure Hughes knew that when he signed him as a target man. Jansen on, c'mon lad!

1-0, Baros. The game is over already as we can't score for toffee

That's true, but you could turn the speakers down a little bit, they're deafening. Well you can't hold a decent conversation at half time anyway

That's out, Brett Lee just got a lifeline

In what sense is that oh dear? It's obviously great for England as we've torn the heart out of their batting order. It's also not too bad for Australia as he's good enough to bring them back into it, especially if Martyn stays in at t'other end like he's prone to do. Great match again

Poor batting this morning, let's hope the Aussies follow our example of how not to bat after lunch

Bit like we were then mate

It makes me sad when I think about how good he was, and what he's like now . If he ever came back, and this is no exaggeration, it'd be like a £10m signing in my opinion.

2-0 to the Rovers - I'm feeling optimistic

Pietersen, Flintoff and Harmison would walk into the Australian side on the basis of the Ashes so far And I rate Watson quite highly, go figure

Puzzled why he didn't just keep milking them for the one every over. It tires out the bowlers for Thursday (as apparently they've only got Warne and Lee ) and well reduces the amount of time they have to bat - it's all going to count. Jones was looking solid enough in defence so that shot was unnecessary. Still can't really complain when he was tonking Lee out the ground all afternoon can I Now we've just got to hope Harmy and Jones have a blinder

It evens itself out agreed, but it was a hel! of a time to lose those wickets, when they were both settled. Ponting is getting rattled, though I still can't see us keeping them from winning

Well played Rudy Koertzen, two fer, kept the total chaseable for the Aussies saving at least one hundred runs in my humble opinion.

Just ordered Brian Lara for the Xbox, it had better be good!

2000 was my first season ticket, though obviosly I'd been to single home games before that. Some of the numbers you guys are reeling out are astounding, clearly some lifelong supporters!