Woke up to the sound of a thunder storm. "Great" Then I remembered I was in Malta and not at home close to the Oval! Never mind the weather, England are realistically just one really good session (5 wickets or batting through a session without losing a wicket) away from regaining the Ashes. Remarkable lack of antipodean posts this morning. PS I was very heartened by the Guardian take on the Australians accepting the offer of bad light: "It shows there are two very nervous teams out there."

Hold on there Ozzie, the weather forecast for tomorrow has worsened according to the BBC. I know the ECB scheduling of this Ashes Test series could not conceivably have been kinder to the visitors but it could be this mid-September final Test at the Oval was a master-stroke after all. Still, perhaps a maximum of two and a half days for the Australians to overhaul a 260 deficit, build a lead and dismiss England is just about doable if they dominate every remaining session.

Great decision by the Australian batsmen to take the light- as an Englishmen, I warmly appreciate their decision to halt a partnership gathering a dangerous momentum.

Malta was basking in the glory of the 1-1 draw on the Victory Day (beating the Turks in 1565) yesterday. Also counting 70 people requiring stitches, three hospitalised, after the Croatin fans rioted following the equaliser. Only 500 Croatians travelled and 103 of them appeared in Court yesterday! Half their section of the stadium doesn't have any seating today. Anyway my match report is in the other Internationals thread. Dado Prso was horribly bad. Whilst talking about other countries, how bad are Wales? They now have the same points total as Malta. If anything, England played even worse and won against Wales than they did in losing to Northern Ireland. I know Sparky got criticised for some of the games Wales played under him but Wales league position at the moment shows how bad the squad is. Is SGE still the England manager by the way? Sack him now. As things stand at the moment, its pot luck of drawing one from Spain, Norway, Turkey, France and Slovakia for the World Cup play-off. Based on the last three "performances" the Prem can put back its fixture list to normal and the FA Cup should have replays again.

There will be shower interuptions on the week-end but I don't think they will amount to much. Bad light if there is cloud cover is likely to curtail play even if the spinners are operating. However, at worst, we are looking at a four and a half day test. As I have already said, I feared England would lose the Test and Ashes on Day 1. They haven't- it is still wide open. Now the battle is joined and England have survived a day of Warne bowling at the top of his ability, there is enough character (as well as ability) in this England team that they ought to make sure from here that Australia can only win if they produce one of the greatest performances of all time. All the tactical problems are with Australia even if they skittle the tail to reduce England to an all out total of sub 350. How do they approach the batting? The Aussies have been giving cheap wickets away this Series so do they go high tempo in the knowlege they are likely to see the wickets falling regularly or do they take advantage of the benign pitch and wait for the bad ones to hit? If I were them, I'd go for occupation of the crease knowing the runs will come. It might take until Sunday lunch (after shower breaks), but that is the surest way to force England to have to fight a rearguard action in their second innings. In contrast, for England this morning, a gung-ho swinging of the willow if one or more of the tail-enders get their eye in for an hour or so could all but put the Ashes out of reach. Warne gets the wickets but his stats also show he's there to be hit into the gas holders as well. Thus far, all the Aussie quickies have dissolved under the pressure of big hitting. I fear the tail will be told to be cautious and a sub-350 figure is inevitable.

I'd have been very happy to take 319-7 for today at start of play. It was absolutely certain that at least one Aussie bowler was going to produce something out of the top drawer. I was certain McGrath was going to bowl something like that immortal spell Michael Holding produced on a batting heaven at The Oval (8-52 I think) but Warne was yet again the man of the innings. I doubt we will get above 350 all out and expect we will be facing a first innings deficit. Whether it is a potential match losing deficit depends on England taking their chances- Australia took their's today. The Ashes are still in the balance. I feared we could have lost them today so on that basis, it was a decent day's work.

Neill back Todd out, shake it all about. Bolton losing home to Everton then winning away to West Ham probably confirms that Bolton are a tidy outfit this season headed for a finish around 8th. Beatable if you have a bit of class and steel but good enough to be sure to take all three points from teams with weaknesses. Question is, what are Rovers? Looks like being a markedly different line-up with two probable debutants and Bellamy starting again after the false start at Upton Park. Surely Rovers will play in both halves unlike the two previous away games but whether we have enough to take anything from the Reebok is a big test for Hughes. My bet is an encouraging performance in a 1-0 defeat and worrying glances at upcoming fixtures.

The more I think about this Test match, the more convinced I am that the Aussies will win. If they bat first, they will finally post a big score. Whenever they bowl, the Aussies (particularly McGrath) will be lethal. This is going to be a finger-nail chewing bad light and rain affected "can we hang on for the draw?" game for England. With Warne bowling and an England rearguard built for counter attack rather than blocking them out, the Ashes are going back to Australia.

Soccerbase- impressive. Now what nationality is Alan Shearer? Apart from the list not being complete, there are certainly five complete duds there who went for a combined £40m+

Thanks- that explains why Scotland won then.

Anyone know why MGP was not even on the Norwegian subs bench? Is he likely to be ruled out of Sunday's game? Still smiling to myself at how a Malta team which would struggle against Accy Stanley (seriously) managed to massively dent a woeful Croatia's WC qualifying chances last night. Huge shame Maltese composure went when they had three wide open opportunities to grab the winner in the last ten minutes. A shot from inside the box went a yard over the bar when something low and hard would surely have embarassed the 6' 6" keeper. Then, twice, if only the inside right had spotted inside left onside and in acres of space with a clear run 30 yards from goal - all it needed was a half way decent chipped pass over the ball watching Croat defenders. I still cannot believe how bad Prso was. Even chubby little Ken Scicluna- no way is that guy an athlete/footballer (whose three sliced/fall over the ball interventions in his own box each time came within inches of being comic own goal of the season)- put two succesful tackles in on Prso.

I went to the Malta v Croatia game and had a fantastic time. Hugely enjoyable even though two of the worst players I have ever seen in internationals were playing. At least Malta subbed the chubby little Ken Scicluna of Birkirkara FC at half time but what the Croatian coach thought he was doing giving Dada Prso of Rangers FC a full 90 minutes I don't know. Pretty even throughout, Croatia took a first half lead and looked likely to romp to a cricket score the way they started in the second half but Prso's unstinting and uncanny ability to conceed throw ins from headers and shots inside the box in front of goal always kept the plucky Maltese in it. With Dimech of Chester City Reserves, Said of Sliema and Ciantar of Floriana clearly several levels above the quality of defender Prso regularly faces in the SPL, Croatia were wrapped up by the part-time Maltese defenders. After 60 minutes and still only 1-0 down Malta began to fancy it and started playing Ole keep ball. 75 minutes and a magnificent 30 yard free kick blast ripped into the Croatian net and the Maltese celebrations were in full swing. The last five minutes saw two great scoring chances for both teams squandered whilst Kovak collected a second yellow but unlike D'Urso, the fourth official drew the attention of the ref to the fact he'd forgotten the red. Absolutely great entertainment and what a cheer greeted the draw. The Croatian fans in the West Stand started pelting anyone who moved with cushions which added to the hilarity and Croatia are in danger of going into the draw with England for not-good-enough runners up after Ibrahamovich grabbed a 90th minute win in Hungary. This is an injury-hit version of the Malta I saw ibrahimovich score 4 in a Swedish 7-0 humiliation twelve months ago. Croatia blew it. ...and did I mention that Prso is a seriously bad player?

Have they sacked SGE yet?

I wonder how that was related by the TV weather forecasters on the afternoon of 28 August?

Alan75 and Chesh have both very accurately described the situation. Paul's solution to the problem does not work for the simple reason that more than 50% of the players (probably soon to be 80%) recruited are non-Brits. It is impossible to cartelise a monopsony when it isn't your fellow PL club who might outbid you but some Italian, French, Spaniard, Ukrainian, Qatari, etc etc. The solution in part is Big Sam's approach- but there are only so many unloved and unwanted Jayjays and Spits out there as Sam found out this summer (flattery is the sincerest form...)

The USA has finally told the EU and NATO what supplies it needs to help it with the hurricane. I do not know whether the US has replied to the offers of help received from the UN, neighbouring countries such as Cuba and Venezuela or any other countries which have offered assistance. Are all the domestic aid agencies that are offering help being allowed to operate yet? Of course this has nothing to do with politics. I hope the emmergency planning people in the rest of the world are looking and learning. With Global Warming off the American agenda, the fate of New Orleans could be facing much of The Netherlands in ten to fifteen years' time and London in most of our life times.

I completely agree. A very expensive misjudgement. Friends in the right places. American hospitality? New Orleans is a tourist destination in case anyone has forgotten. One figure says it all. It would have cost $2.5 billion to build defenses capable of resisting a Category 5 storm. Katrina was an upper Category 4. The Iraq war is costing $6 billion a week. Nothing about New Orleans and its situation is new; its vulnerability has been clear for centuries.

From Sunday morning's Observer newspaper: "Bush was already under fire for taking the longest summer vacation in presidential history and he stayed put at his ranch in Texas as Katrina made her deadly landfall. On Wednesday, two days after the hurricane struck, he flew over the area in Air Force One, only arriving yesterday (but not in New Orleans itself) to see the scene for himself, though he did declare that relief efforts so far had been inadequate. He sounded grave, but spoke of hope ahead, even in these "darkest days". In previous public appearances, his tone and demeanour seemed inappropriate, further evidence of the tin ear he displayed when referring to Osama bin Laden and the 9/11 hijackers as "folks". It is hard to disagree with the New York Times, famously restrained in its use of language, whose editorial found that Mr Bush's response had been "casual to the point of carelessness". The Times' former editor, Howell Raines, wrote in our pages that his behaviour was "outrageous". "More substantive points include charges that the president cut funding for the levees that were supposed to protect New Orleans from floods. Others have singled out the damaging and greedy redevelopment of coastal wetlands. Not all the criticism stands up to close scrutiny. Even with full funding in recent years, none of the flood-control projects would have been completed in time to prevent the swamping of the city. Staving off cuts to the budget of army engineers would not have helped since the destruction was vaster than any contingency. Still, there is a widespread perception that the sheer scale of the problems reflects a shuffling of resources - to pay for tax cuts and the Iraq adventure - that has left the US far too vulnerable. It is all a brutal reminder that government policies, sometimes followed only in the small print of rows over obscure budget allocations, can have real - and deadly - consequences for real people. "The words "homeland security" now have a terribly hollow ring in the anarchic south: 35% of Louisiana's National Guard is serving in Iraq, where four out of every 10 soldiers are guardsmen. And recruiting is down because people fear being sent to Iraq. The priority given to law and order seems a troubling inverse reflection of what happened after the fall of Baghdad. Is it really more important to use deadly force against looters than to deliver humanitarian aid effectively? "Elemental forces do not take account of secular political timetables, but Katrina struck at a moment when the president's ratings were at a second-term low. Americans, especially the poor black people who are the hurricane's main victims, will need to see a much more effective government response to this natural weapon of mass destruction if Mr Bush's reputation is not to sink further as the killer floodwaters start to recede."

Some international comment on the plight of the USA: Perhaps the much-abused and maligned French can be forgiven Le Progres: "Katrina has shown that the emperor has no clothes. The world's superpower is powerless when confronted with nature's fury." Not entirel surprising comment from Kenya: "My first reaction when television images of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans came through the channels was that the producers must be showing the wrong clip. The images, and even the disproportionately high number of visibly impoverished blacks among the refugees, could easily have been a re-enactment of a scene from the pigeonholed African continent." A telling comment from HongKong: "This disaster is a heavy blow to the United States, and a lesson which deserves deep thought... [it] is a warning to the Bush administration that the United States must clear its head and truly assume its responsibility to protect nature and the environment in which humankind lives." Perhaps the pot calling the kettle black but the Iranian take on things: "About 10,000 US National Guard troops were deployed [in New Orleans] and were granted the authority to fire at and kill whom they wanted, upon the pretext of restoring order. This decision is an indication of the US administration's militarist mentality, which regards killing as the only way to control even its own citizens." Most disconcerting for those responsible for the relief effort is that it is not just Hugo Chávez who is expressing his amazement. Jack Cafferty, the CNN anchor known for his straight-talking, declared: "I remember the riots in Watts. I remember the earthquake in San Francisco. I remember a lot of things. I have never seen anything as badly handled as this situation in New Orleans. Where the hell is the water for these people? Why can't sandwiches be dropped to those people in that Superdome down there? It's a disgrace. And don't think the world isn't watching." PS all the Homeland Security people FEMA supplies to Baton Rouge have been binned. Suprise, surprise, they didn't need the medicines to deal with an anthrax attack.

Ask the US State Department. It is evaluating the offers of help. Obviously the US doesn't need Chavez's barrels of oil at sub-OPEC prices.

More days go by and still confusion reigns. Bush makes a live broadcast (he woke up in time?) and promises 7,000 extra troups (well, 17,000 actually according to the White House press statement- nobody woke the Pres). Quite apart from the abject misery, confusion and terror the citizens of America's south are living through (the devastation in Memphis is immense according to friends there but nobody is taking any notice), I think the damage to the American prestige and sense of well-being could be far greater than 9/11. Back to the hapless "W Bush". His response to the greatest natural disaster in the USA since the San Francisco quake almost 100 years ago is: Holiday Holiday Oh ###### better do something so divert Air Force one over New Orleans en route to Washington- photo opportunity of Pres looking dumb, er glum. Plattitudes Plattitudes Do something LIVE broadcast!!! Everyone knows Bush is recorded all the time so this is MEGA news. Media loves a story about the mechanics of the media so lots of positive coverage Plattitude Plattitudes (got the numbers wrong? 17,000 is too big a number for the Pres to comprehend) Do something Dodge the bank manager- the President of China can wait. Pres cancels meeting with President of China who has come to Washington to tell him to put his financial house in order to "tour" the south, meet a few photogenically chosen blacks and get Rove to spin that W went a lot closer to the grim reality of New Orleans than he dared in reality. What's that? every man, women and child in the USA on average owes China $6,400 - ha ha, guess which bunch of slitty eyes will buy the US paper to fund the $10 billion Federal hurricane (couldn't organise a ######-up in a brewery) relief effort? Meantime 53 governments around the world (including Tsunami-hit Sri Lanka) have offered cash and help to the USA. (Britain's medical teams sit at the airport). US State Department says it is considering its response. Koffi Anan formally offers UN assistance to "Ambassador" Bolton.

One of you is talking about Slovenia.

0-0 v Andorra? Can Malta play you some time soon?

All I can say from an English standpoint is thank you Tosh for snubbing Savage. No way would England be getting 3 points today if Sav had been playing for Wales.

Some hard facts: In all risk assessments of the likeliest calamities to hit the USA, New Orleans flooding was consistently ranked in the top five. Spending on New Orleans flood protection has been reduced by 80% by the Bush administration. Every mile of wetland reduces the impact of hurricane surges by 50%. The Bush administration removed development controls over the destruction of wetlands four years ago. Hurricanes have statistically become stronger and more numerous over the past fifteen years. There is a history of twenty year cycles of abnormally numerous and strong hurricanes. This one is out of synch. The size and extent of the devastation in America's south is proportionate to the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean. What is truly shocking is that several days after the disaster, the USA seems far less capable of handling a wholly predicted disaster than most Third World countries were capable of handling a largely unforeseen disaster. New Orleans is probably on a par with Mogadishu now in terms of danger and lack of civil authority. How the USA gets back in control of the situation is anybody's guess- sending another 10,000 part-time troops with inadequate command and control and little to no experience of this sort of catastrophy still seems overwhelmingly inadequate. Most other countries would throw open its borders to global help in the face of this size of disaster. If the Russians can get the Brits to rescue a sub, surely Bush can ask the UN for help.