Freddie Solves FEC Riddle

Well, well, I'm away from it for a couple of days and it all kicks off.

It really rocked me when I heard the news of the passing of Bob Woolmer. I've always seen him as a man of great integrity as well as complete commitment to the game. I will post a separate comment as a small tribute to a "Fine human being" as Inzi described him.

Well done to the Irish, especially to Niall O'Brien, fantastically gutsy cricket. Our boys could learn a thing or two about playing with that "never say die" attitude. Let's hope that Vaughan had them watching tapes of it because I thought the Irish performance proved that a team can achieve anything if they put their minds to it, their hearts and souls into it and they really believe in it. So, 6 more games for the Irish in the Super Eights (assuming that Pakistan beat Zimbabwe, but with the events of the weekend Pakistan certainly are not short of motivation to come out and play at their very best), though I doubt they will chalk up another win, they can earn the respect of the cricketing world and really raise the profile of the game in Ireland.

Freddie was out on the beers again.... nothing new. It rather upset Mr Fletcher but Mr Vaughan must be feeling somewhat relieved that he's been given a way out of the "Freddie's England vice-captain, but we really want Strauss to be FEC (future England captain) but the public are backing Freddie" dilema.

There is a real issue about safety when players go out drinking. Freddie insists he was never in danger, but a drunken dip in the sea cannot be the best physical preparation for a game of cricket. Lads will be lads, but Fletcher needs to assign a senior member of the party (therein lies the problem, Vaughan can't be out drinking with the lads, even as a chaperone and Nixon was one of the culprits !) to watch over the lads when they feel the need to let off some steam.

Sadly it appears that Jamie Dalrymple is NOT a big drinker, so he did not fall over and sprain his bowling wrist. Instead he played against Canada, bowling 3 overs for 21. If even the minnows are going to batter him to all parts, surely England will see sense and pick Ravi Bopara, who scored 29 off 30 balls and picked up two wickets. Bopara is an exciting prospect and a young cricketer who is improving with every game (I'm sure that Dalrymple is getting WORSE !).

Michael Vaughan has again rung the injury alert bells by tripping over a pot hole at the ground in practice. It raises two questions :
1) How come there are great pot holes in the cricket pitch ?!!
2) When are England going to invest in Cryogenic freezing. Vaughan and Freddie could go into "storage" between games, meaning no injury or drinking episodes to worry about !