The Guardian's entry. Makes sense apart from overlooking the astute signings at Charlton. Says nice but realistic things about Rovers in the article. For lazy clickers it reads: 1 Chelsea - Whichever team they choose to put out 2 Arsenal - Won't miss Vieira that much 3 Liverpool - If they can stop depending on Gerrard 4 Man Utd - Plenty of goals, but suspect farther back 5 Tottenham - Davids still a class act 6 Middlesbrough - Little by little.... 7 Aston Villa - O'Leary knows what he wants 8 Birmingham - Second city second again 9 Bolton - No one likes playing them 10 Blackburn - Bellamy player of the year 11 Newcastle - Why did we sell Bellamy again? 12 Everton - Close, but no cigar 13 Charlton - Can't think of anything to say 14 Man City - Stuart Pearce's hair turns white 15 Portsmouth - Fancy relying on Laurent Robert 16 Sunderland - The new Bolton 17 West Ham - Teddy Sheringham knighted 18 Fulham - Down in last-day drama 19 Wigan - Took too long finding their feet 20 West Brom - Should have gone down last season In a very entertaining read, individual fans of clubs give their forecasts. Note the muppet from Brum tipping us for relegation On the basis that six of them have nominated either Rovers or at least one Rovers player as the Premiership hate figure, I'd say we're in for some rousing receptions on our travels this season.

There is a thread on the official kiddies' board complaining about "music" being played when Rovers score. Perhaps it wasn't Sky dubbing it on after all. GET RID!

Very sloppy bowling by England now- Australia are being let off the hook.

That's great news about Matty. So is this: Crewe 2 Burnley 1. Last minute decider for Crewe.

Studs first over the ball into his leg at pace- doesn't sound good for Matty.

That is terrible. What are Espanyol playing at? Two red cards in a friendly and many horror tackles. An absolute sickener for Matty- desperately hope he hasn't suffered a serious injury.

Anyone picking up commentary?- I'm listening to the cricket.

Not letting Australia get off to a flyer is going to be essential- England have got to be tight in the field and accurate with the ball and the pitch will do the rest. Catches win matches.

Nissa handball gave Sheff U their second penalty. Sheff U made some good purchases this summer- especially Ifill. 4-1 Sheff U

49 for last wicket so far!

For my observation that 20-4 at stumps last night equals disaster looming, read 31-4 at eleven o'clock this morning. The Aussies will be really fancying this!

Great preview ozzie. Unfortunately you've set a new high standard by getting it out so early- den is already chasing for my preview and I've forgotten which one I'm down for! I thought the Hammers fans were pretty fair in their responses to your questions- it was 7-1 by the way and the sliced clearance which became an o.g. was one of the most comical sights in football this decade. Too many imponderables to predict a score at this stage but I'd say Rovers have too much for them in every department on the field- West Ham don't look much more than a very useful Championship side even after the signings they've made (at least Sparky and Rovers know about their ex-Cardiff defense). Pardew has said he is looking to sign two new forwards but that he will not forecast having them before the Rovers' match.

The Aussies will be worried about the size of the England lead and short of the pacemen finding line and menace, Warne is the big threat. I remember Derek Randall scoring a brilliant 134 against Pakistan when Abdul Qadir was at his peak. Simply used his feet and eye and slogged him- didn't bother watching the hand/wrist as it was unreadable even when analysed by freeze frame video. Giving Warne that treatment tomorrow is probably England's best hope. Rattling up a few high scoring overs against him might cost a wicket or two but with the game poised as it is, hitting Warne out of the attack has got to be the best option. Playing responsibly is suicide- the Strauss ball was there to be slogged but Strauss did everything the manual says you should- and got bowled!

124 advantage, 9 wickets in hand and Warne turning it at right angles! Exciting day tomorrow in prospect. Here's hoping Trescothick builds a big score and there is more resolution to the batting to so that another Petersen/Flintoff thrash seals an invincible position rather than rescues the innings. Over 250 in the second innings should see England OK, under 200 and 0-2 is on the cards.

Ok, we've had the knock about stuff, let's see England build a second innings worthy of squaring the series. The nightmare scenario would be 20-4 at stumps!

The catch stuck but not backing up the run out attempt against Ponting straight afterwards was criminal. That's really costing England now.

As someone who organisers classical music concerts and runs a summer festival, it helps to know a bit about the subject! Anyway I am delighted the Rovers don't play music after they score a goal at Ewood. I was pretty sure I heard some blast of something execrable before the announcement of the scorer in one of the live televised games last season.

The Guardian is no fan of the Glazers and I also find it hard to believe Phil Neville was on £100K a week at OT. So I am not sure whether Ferguson has been told to cut the Man U wage bill. However, unless the Glazers have something positive hidden away, slashing the operating costs of Man U (even Man U pay comfortably over 50% of turnover in wages) is the first and most obvious thing they have to do to service the massive charges and fees on their debt burden.

There is a very good reason for being grateful for us being so terrible in front of goal last season- that utterly vomit-inducing cringe-making playing of noise after we score. STOP IT!!! (or is it a EuroSport effect dubbed on?) If the classical music repertoire is to be raided, there are some heart-stopping and breathtaking moments- climax of Act 2 of Tristan und Isolde, the last four minutes of Mahler's second symphony, the last six minutes of Sibelius second, Dawn on the Moscow River in Kovinshkina by Mussorgsky and I could go on and on... Played at the volume the Ewood tannoys are deployed at, these would render the football irrelevant. However, assuming that pace and grandeur are required of the music- Khachaturian's Sabre Dance second movement of Shostakovich Eigth Symphony when the timpany takes up the theme Stravinsky Rite of Spring finale Or if you want the opposition to be too scared to set foot on the park: The hammer blows of fate in Mahler 6 Duke Bluebeard opening the tenth door (Bartok) The four massive dissonant chords in Shostakovich eigth symphony Incidentally, I was delighted to read that Shostakovich and Prokofiev are now better box office with London audiences than Beethoven and Mozart.

The imponderable is England's fielding. The Aussie batsmen have an issue tomorrow- either treat this like a proper test match and ground out the runs for few wickets down or take up the gungho ODI challenge England has set them. All test match logic should tell them to look to ground out 650 over two and a half days but their pride has probably been bent out of shape by the smearing they took today. So irrespective of what they should be doing, I expect the Aussie batsmen will be out there throwing the willow around and if the chances stick, follow-on will be up for discussion on TMS by lunch time/early afternoon. However, another pityable England performance in the field and the Australians will be within a whisker of England's total with five or six wickets in hand by close of play tomorrow. The first two or three catch/run out opportunities tomorrow could well prove decisive not only for this match but in the series. The chances will be offered, of that I'm pretty certain. Of course, it's probably going to rain all day.

To be honest this is more of a dig at Fat Freddie. No doubt he decided on the Intertoto adventure before waking up to the fact that lots of other "big" clubs had pooed up their domestic season and had the same idea. That said, Depor were pretty poor in la liga last season so Newcastle as a Prem side shouldn't have been doubled by them. Depor in the last ten years always seem to be the club Rovers should aim to emulate- similar size stadium , similar size town, both depressed areas and it rains a lot! Souness comment before the game moaning about the Intertoto and talking about one eye on the opening Arsenal fixture said it all. How I wish I'd stuck money on Depor winning at St James last night.

Two goals either side of half time for Depor. Souness cannot even take his barcodes to the finals of the Intertoto!

Quack

The last I read was the Dutch Police have not dropped their investigation and I believe Van Persie is still bailed. Arsene Wenger has been moaning that he wants the whole thing out of the way before the season starts whereas it looks like the next formalo steps will be in late August. I agree that the whole media has decided we are the dirty uncultured yobs of the league and nothing is going to get in the way of the story. I always believe that the number of bookings any club gets unnecesarilly (talking back, kicking the ball away) reflects extremely badly on the club management. For all Souness' disciplinary streak, I thought the stupid bookings we got when he was manager were simply sloppy and as stupid as some of his outbursts from the touchline. At least we won't be getting any more bookings because the ref is fed up with the abuse from the idiot in the Rovers' technical area. Some managers use their players to intimidate officials but Rovers just seemed to mouth off to no particular effect. Here's hoping Sparky keeps the lads focussed aggressive.. and disciplined.

Who are the Australians getting to replace Farrina? Its a long shot but properly coached, Australia have enough soccer talent to challenge the fifth best Latin Americans. As for the cricket, England have selected the same team and will get the same result.