The Googly

Sreesanth weeps like a prom queen with a ripped dress whose boyfriend has done one with the class slapper

IPL: Sehwag tonks 4 6 4 6 4 6 off Symonds

The IPL starts today, as I try to stifle a yawn..

There are a host of previews, match facts and profiles all over the cricket media - traditional and online, -regarding the Indian Premier League's first match today as Bangalore take on Kolkata. 

The start of the league has been mercifully quick, just six months or so after the inception of the idea - it has been a whirlwind.  But for me, it has been a really boring whirlwind - like that one they had in London a couple of years ago when one house had its chimney knocked off - I just cannot get excited about some very rich Indian people paying a fortune for a load of cricketers to play for teams I have zero emotional context with.  Kevin Pietersen, the England man agitating the most to play in it, is on record as saying he does not even like playing Twenty20 and that he is "exhausted" with the amount of cricket he has to play.  It is obvious what his (mercenary) reasons are for playing.  Many others are taking the rupees for the exact same reason.

Yes, it may change cricket forever; but that doesn't make it an interesting spectable to watch does it?  Our friends over at King Cricket have picked a team to support in order to make it a bit more interesting.  I can't even be bothered doing that, such is my apathy.   I think if most of us are honest, we feel the same way.  Am I wrong?

The VOTE! Are India moving into the elite?

With an eight-wicket thumping of SA in the third Test, are MS Dhoni's team finally showing the kind of mettle that can take India to the best side in the world?

Cricket Snapshot: Meet the IPL logos

All the teams, all the logos.  You've gotta love the Knight Riders - I wonder if David Hasselhoff and KITT will be putting in an appearance at their matches.

Why I don't like... Two Test Series

There's little that can gladden the hearts of followers of the greatest game than to read of a renaissance in West Indian Test cricket. Alas the Queen's Park Oval appeared to be populated with more dancing girls than cricket fans, but that did not stop Ramneresh Sarwan, supported by Shiv Chanderpaul and others reaching their target of 254 to level the Sri Lankan series 1-1. I looked forward avidly to the showdown next week where the spoils would be decided and (possibly) a new dawn at last hailed.

But no. In their infinite wisdom, the ICC's Future Tours programme saw fit to truncate this "series" to two Tests, and so deny us (and the Windies' worldwide followers) the chance to see a positive result. Shame on them.

And in case you think this is a one-off and see the malign hand of the IPL in play, here are some upcoming two / four Test series: Australia in West Indies (four Tests, April 2008); South Africa in England (four Tests, July 2008); Australia in India (four Tests, October 2008); New Zealand in Australia (two Tests, November 2008). I'm afraid there's plenty more such coitus interuptus to come.

[The Tooting Trumpet]   

India want China giving them money playing cricket

Not content with potentially ruining the world game in their pursuit of rupees, the BCCI is now set to ruin the Olympics for the same reason.  Alright, I might be exagerrating a bit, but they are taking cricket to China to promote the game in the vast, increasingly rich country.

Bats and balls have been sent, and the Indian board are to send coaches from their national academy over to help the youngsters learn the game.

In spite of the dollar signs that are no doubt flashing in the eyes of the BCCI bigwigs, if this succeeds it will surely be good for the game globally, won't it?  Let me know your thoughts...

Titanic Triples: Graham Gooch, 333 vs India, 1990

Continuing our looks back at triple-centuries, the moustachio'd maestro tonks a mighty score against India at Lord's.

Video: Virender Sehwag tonks 319 off 304 balls

As is usual in matches where such a high score is made, the draw is looming.  However, that doesn't take away from what an incredible knock this was; the fastest triple century in history.  Sehwag is special, but he is not hard to work out - he wants to hit every ball for four.  It's a high risk approach, and he runs the risk of being dropped if it doesn't come off consistently (like for most of last year).  But when is does work, like here, is there any better sight in the whole of cricket?

England players' union weighs into the great Indian Premier League debate/war

Dimitri Macarenhas has already gone (for about £25 in the cut-price, low-end second auction) to the IPL and it seems some of the other England players have been bleating to the PCA about it.  You see, they quite fancy making huge wodges of cash in a pointless competition as well; trouble is the ECB would rather they didn't.  The players' union, as you might expect, are on the side of their members.

"The value of the cricketer has just increased through what is happening in the IPL," Morris told BBC Sport.  It's perfectly natural for the PCA to want our members to take advantage of that - it's a unique opportunity."  PCA chair, Sean Morris, said today.  "Restricting employees anywhere will cause friction in a relationship - over a period of time that will break it down." 

Giles Clarke is not impressed though.  "I don't think the rewards being talked about are ones England players would be interested in," he gloated, in his usual particularly smug manner, "Should any player give up his English contract - which is not an insignificant amount of money, let alone all the extra methods of earning money that go along with that - he would, of course, risk losing his England place."

Will central contracts be enough to save the ECB from a significant player desertion?  Tell us what you think..

The IPL starts today, as I try to stifle a yawn..

There are a host of previews, match facts and profiles all over the cricket media - traditional and online, -regarding the Indian Premier League's first match today as Bangalore take on Kolkata. 

The start of the league has been mercifully quick, just six months or so after the inception of the idea - it has been a whirlwind.  But for me, it has been a really boring whirlwind - like that one they had in London a couple of years ago when one house had its chimney knocked off - I just cannot get excited about some very rich Indian people paying a fortune for a load of cricketers to play for teams I have zero emotional context with.  Kevin Pietersen, the England man agitating the most to play in it, is on record as saying he does not even like playing Twenty20 and that he is "exhausted" with the amount of cricket he has to play.  It is obvious what his (mercenary) reasons are for playing.  Many others are taking the rupees for the exact same reason.

Yes, it may change cricket forever; but that doesn't make it an interesting spectable to watch does it?  Our friends over at King Cricket have picked a team to support in order to make it a bit more interesting.  I can't even be bothered doing that, such is my apathy.   I think if most of us are honest, we feel the same way.  Am I wrong?

The VOTE! Are India moving into the elite?

With an eight-wicket thumping of SA in the third Test, are MS Dhoni's team finally showing the kind of mettle that can take India to the best side in the world?

Cricket Snapshot: Meet the IPL logos

All the teams, all the logos.  You've gotta love the Knight Riders - I wonder if David Hasselhoff and KITT will be putting in an appearance at their matches.

Why I don't like... Two Test Series

There's little that can gladden the hearts of followers of the greatest game than to read of a renaissance in West Indian Test cricket. Alas the Queen's Park Oval appeared to be populated with more dancing girls than cricket fans, but that did not stop Ramneresh Sarwan, supported by Shiv Chanderpaul and others reaching their target of 254 to level the Sri Lankan series 1-1. I looked forward avidly to the showdown next week where the spoils would be decided and (possibly) a new dawn at last hailed.

But no. In their infinite wisdom, the ICC's Future Tours programme saw fit to truncate this "series" to two Tests, and so deny us (and the Windies' worldwide followers) the chance to see a positive result. Shame on them.

And in case you think this is a one-off and see the malign hand of the IPL in play, here are some upcoming two / four Test series: Australia in West Indies (four Tests, April 2008); South Africa in England (four Tests, July 2008); Australia in India (four Tests, October 2008); New Zealand in Australia (two Tests, November 2008). I'm afraid there's plenty more such coitus interuptus to come.

[The Tooting Trumpet]   

India want China giving them money playing cricket

Not content with potentially ruining the world game in their pursuit of rupees, the BCCI is now set to ruin the Olympics for the same reason.  Alright, I might be exagerrating a bit, but they are taking cricket to China to promote the game in the vast, increasingly rich country.

Bats and balls have been sent, and the Indian board are to send coaches from their national academy over to help the youngsters learn the game.

In spite of the dollar signs that are no doubt flashing in the eyes of the BCCI bigwigs, if this succeeds it will surely be good for the game globally, won't it?  Let me know your thoughts...

Titanic Triples: Graham Gooch, 333 vs India, 1990

Continuing our looks back at triple-centuries, the moustachio'd maestro tonks a mighty score against India at Lord's.

Video: Virender Sehwag tonks 319 off 304 balls

As is usual in matches where such a high score is made, the draw is looming.  However, that doesn't take away from what an incredible knock this was; the fastest triple century in history.  Sehwag is special, but he is not hard to work out - he wants to hit every ball for four.  It's a high risk approach, and he runs the risk of being dropped if it doesn't come off consistently (like for most of last year).  But when is does work, like here, is there any better sight in the whole of cricket?

England players' union weighs into the great Indian Premier League debate/war

Dimitri Macarenhas has already gone (for about £25 in the cut-price, low-end second auction) to the IPL and it seems some of the other England players have been bleating to the PCA about it.  You see, they quite fancy making huge wodges of cash in a pointless competition as well; trouble is the ECB would rather they didn't.  The players' union, as you might expect, are on the side of their members.

"The value of the cricketer has just increased through what is happening in the IPL," Morris told BBC Sport.  It's perfectly natural for the PCA to want our members to take advantage of that - it's a unique opportunity."  PCA chair, Sean Morris, said today.  "Restricting employees anywhere will cause friction in a relationship - over a period of time that will break it down." 

Giles Clarke is not impressed though.  "I don't think the rewards being talked about are ones England players would be interested in," he gloated, in his usual particularly smug manner, "Should any player give up his English contract - which is not an insignificant amount of money, let alone all the extra methods of earning money that go along with that - he would, of course, risk losing his England place."

Will central contracts be enough to save the ECB from a significant player desertion?  Tell us what you think..

Player dies at Indian cricket match

We all know that cricket fans in India can be a bit on the bonkers side, but it seems they have nothing on the amateur players who can take a murderous turn after defeat.

A match between rival village teams Garwar and Pancheuri in the Siwan district this week ended in tragedy when a man was killed for jeering his defeated opponents.

"The Garwar XI members, delighted after their victory on their home ground, booed their rivals. Taking strong objection to it, the players of Panchneuri XI attacked the Garwar XI team with bats and wickets," an eyewitness said. 

The onfield battle that followed claimed the life of Garwar player Raju Chauhan, who was beaten so badly he died on the way to hospital.  A man has been arrested.

Makes those strongly-worded discussions about umpiring decisions made by opposition team members on the village greens of England seem rather tame.

Praveen Kumar credits his cricketing career to a wooden plank

Young Praveen Kumar, he of the 10 wickets in the recent CB Series, is a talented 21-year-old bowler at the forefront of MS Dhoni's radical new ODI team.  However, it may not have been this way if it wasn't for an old plank of wood.

It seems that all of Praveen's family are wrestlers and wanted the young man to follow in their footsteps of wearing spandex and poorly-acting out banal and pointless feuds on television.  Or it could have been the other type of wrestling, that one in the Olympics.  Either way they were so unhappy about the youngster taking up the greatest game that they refused even to buy him a bat.  But that wasn't going to stop him.

"I found this broken wooden plank on the rooftop of my house." the medium-pacer said, "I had one Rupee with me... I took along a cousin and got the plank moulded into a bat at a nearby carpenter's shop."

The rest, as they say, is history.  As Roy Castle once said: dedication, that's what you need.  I do wonder if his family is still speaking to him though...

Cricket Snapshot: India is quite pleased

Never let it be said that the Indian cricket public might overreact to One-day seires victories.

The Harbhajan Singh one-man charm offensive continues

The head of the Australian branch of the Indian Tourist Board must love this fella. Harbhajan simply cannot do enough to ensure that the the Australian players, public and media despise him in the most vehement way imaginable. 

Not content with calling the players all sorts of names (none of which were "monkey", by the way) and gesturing to the crowd; he has now taken to combining gestures with spitting and crowd abuse with one spectator claiming he made monkey gestures, spat and said naughty things to him.

Allan Border, however, disagrees.  "I was at the ground yesterday and I was on that side of the ground and Harbhajan was copping a fair bit of stick from the crowd. I didn't notice any gestures at all and I thought he handled himself quite well to be quite honest."

So, who to believe?  I'm leaning towards Allan Border rather than some (probably drunk) spectator.  Also, as we all know, Border has a Sauron-like all-seeing eye - I can feel it's lidless glare on me now as I type this.

Kevin Pietersen - Get thee behind me satan Indian Premier League

Kevin Pietersen is once again stepping up his efforts to prove himself to be the most English person in the whole world by today stating that he is not interested in the Indian Premier League.  The former South African has said that no amount of money will tempt him away from the Three Lions of England.

"I love playing for England," the ball-clobberer said today, as a perfectly formed tear rolled down his cheek, "I love playing for the spectators. England has given me a fantastic opportunity to a fantastic life at the moment. So I'm fully committed 100% to playing for England, to winning games for England, to scoring thousands more runs for England. I love playing for England and there will be nothing that will lure me away from England just yet."

He then ripped off his shirt, climbed on the desk, sang Jerusalem then punched a foreigner - probably his dad. 

Is KP to be admired for this, or is he perhaps cynically hoping to win over the remaining few of the England public who believe he shouldn't be playing for the team?  Let me know what you think.

The ICC Under-19 World Cup Update Four

That rather nervous young man, who looks just a little like Glenn McGrath, is New Zealand's Tim Southee. Just turned 19, he is a precocious talent whom New Zealand must be tempted to throw into the Test arena after his successful international bow in the T20 games vs England.

Even he wasn't able to carry New Zealand into the Final of the Under-19 World Cup, as India Duckworth-Lewised their way past the boys from the Land of the Long White Cloud to book their place for Sunday. They'll wait for the winners of the semi-final between The Trumpet's favourites, Pakistan and the Parnell-led Saffers. We'll keep you in the loop at The Googly over the weekend.

Elsewhere in Malaysia, England's boys play-off for fifth place on Saturday. That wouldn't usually matter, except that the opponents are, you've guessed it, Australia.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Matthew Hayden Invitational XI

Our picture shows Matthew Hayden proudly holding his trophy as winner of the "Andrew Symonds' Best Friend Competition 2007." (Lee - can you check if I have this right?)

Hayden is known for many things (LBW b Hoggard for example) including his oft-stated religious beliefs. As Wikipedia tells us, "Hayden is a devout Roman Catholic and says "When I’m in trouble, I ask: ‘What would Christ do?'" That's Christ not Gilchrist - everyone knows that Gilly would try to hit every ball out of the ground.

So, with due acknowledgement, since other religions are available, join the Trumpet over the jump as we build the Matthew Hayden Invitational XI.

Captain - JC himself. He (that's He) would keep wicket, gathering deliveries the way he gathers souls, and bat at seven, offering redemption to sinning specialist bats with momentum turning knocks rooted in muscular Christianity. Not unlike his near-namesake Gilchrist - though Adam is more saintly.

Coach - John the Baptist. Useful adviser, though clearly deferring the Captain. Might change cap awarding ceremonies to something wetter.

Number 1 - St Matthew. Hard-hitting left-hander and sledger-in-chief from slip. Can be relied to tell the Gospel-Truth to match referees.

Number 2 - St Andrew. Current in run of bad form due to fishing (outside off stump).

Number 3 - St Thomas. Appears class, but inability to dominate leads to doubts about his place. Cherubic looks don't help his cause.

Number 8 - St Peter. Burly, bowls a heavy ball at first change, averages 23.5 in ODIs but at a strike rate of 103. Refused to tour three times before finding favour with the Captain.

Physio - Mary Magdelene. Sorts out bowlers' feet after a long day in the field.

The Press - Pontius Pilate. They'll crucify England if they lose to New Zealand.

Banned for taking 30 pieces of silver from the ICL - Judas Ischariot.

Can Googlyers add to the XI?

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Matthew Hayden in "I don't like Harbhajan Singh" shock

We know that Matthew Hayden likes a lot of things: his impressive test average, cooking and God being a few of them.  But we have learned today that the giant opener is not too keen on Harbhajan Singh.  Why I do not know; I have a vague recollction of some stuff happening recently but the cricket media has been a little light on the coverage of it.

The God-bothering batsman said today, "It's been a bit of a long battle with Harbhajan, the first time I ever met him he was the same little obnoxious weed that he is now. His record speaks for itself in cricket.

"There is a certain line that you can kind of go to and then you know where you push it and he just pushes it all the time. That's why he has been charged more than anyone that's ever played in the history of cricket."

Fair point, I suppose.  What's your take on this?

Sky miss out on IPL UK TV rights

Setanta Sports have stolen a march on Uncle Rupert's evil empire by poaching the rights to broadcast the Indian Premier League in the UK.

Now, while I'm all for giving the great Australian magnate one in the eye, I can't help thinking that this may be the final nail in the coffin for the IPL in the UK.  Many cricket fans in the British Isles purchased a SkySports subscription under duress after the satellite monster had effectively bought the British and international game exclusively for the UK broadcast market. 

The Setanta director of sport, Trevor East, said: "The Indian Premier League is going to be massive. We're absolutely thrilled to acquire these rights and add another major sport to Setanta's programme line-up."  But will it really be massive? 

I doubt there will be a mass of Sky viewers champing to pay even more money out every month to see a league that features no players from the UK and teams (Bangalore, Hyderabad etc) that have zero resonance with British cricket fans, with the possible exception of the Asian population.

An analogous example is La Liga.   The Spanish football league is full of world class stars playing a great brand of football; but how many viewers in the UK would pay for a subscription to see this league only and no other football?  My money is on not many.

Will you be signing up for Setanta to watch?  Let us know in the comments.

The ICC Under-19 World Cup Update Three

England's campaign in the U-19 World Cup fizzled out in a tame quarter-final defeat to India in KL Malaysia. England were inserted by India and were soon struggling at 106-4 with only "Sweet Baby" James Taylor showing any form with a painstaking 41. Instead of re-grouping in the late middle-order and building a total of 220 or so, in an uncanny echo of their seniors, the late order folded with the addition of just 36 more runs leaving 24 deliveries unused. There was no way back from that, as Man of the Match, Turuwar Kohli (right, though probably happier than he looks) led India to an easy win with 63 not out.

In the other quarter-final played today, South Africa destroyed Bangladesh, dismissing the Bangla Boys for just 41. Saffers' captain, Wayne Parnell, top scored with 57, then took six wickets for eight runs - Man of the Match too I suppose.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Ricky Ponting sees his arse at his own cheapness

The IPL auction has left many people excited (the whole of India), many others indifferent (me and the rest of the world), and Ricky Ponting in raging temper.

Punter has well and truly got the hump over his low price in the auction, especially considering how much they paid for Andrew Symonds.  "I thought I might have been able to attract a little bit more than that," Ponting said. "The fact I haven't made a lot of runs over the last couple of weeks probably hasn't helped much. But realistically we as Australian players probably won't be able to take part in the first couple of years of the event anyway."

He then went on to say that he's not even bothered, right, because he didn't want to play in their stupid league anway; and his dad is harder than their dad.

BCCI says jump, ICC says how high (again)

We all know sledging is an issue.  Apparently something happened with it recently in Australia, but there was so little coverage of it I can't remember the details now. 

The BCCI wants these things sorted out and has asked for a zero-tolerance policy to be introduced - the ICC have accepted.  They then asked Malcolm Speed to strip down to his boxers and perform the entire closing-scene routine from Flashdance.

Whether or not this is a good or bad idea (and for my money it is unenforcable, and any attempt to enforce it will reduce games to farce), the more worrying thing is that once again the Indian board are dictating ICC policy.

Does anyone really care about the Indian Premier League?

The auction is over, players have been bought for stupid amounts of money, the world's media have reported it and now... well, who cares?

A pointless tournament will take place at some point in the future, but who is going to be watching?  Do we really care that Adam Gilchrist is playing for Hyderabad for example?  In the US, the all-star games are a novelty that people watch but have absolutely no regard for the result. I for one cannot help thinking that this tournament is of the same ilk.

Maybe I am being too harsh.  What are your views on the IPL?  Are you going to watch?  Do you care who Andrew Symonds or MS Dhoni are playing for?

Fabulous five-fers: Brett Lee vs India 2008

England Lions whimper

The England Lions completed their Duleep Trophy schedule with a nine wickets drubbing at the hands of West Zone's fringe international players.

England won the toss and batted, compiling a handy 355 based on captain Michael Yardy's 169. This knock revealed a flaw in the concept of the Lions, as even Michael Yardy's Valentine sweetheart wouldn't expect him to play Test cricket, so, frankly, what's the point? West Zone replied with big hundreds for Wasim "Thank God I don't have to face Brett Lee again" Jaffer and the teenage Rahane. Monty and Rashid (right) shared six pricey wickets. England's second dig was dismal - all out for 165 with only Ed Joyce's 66 and Rashid's 39 worthy of mention. Irfan Pathan's elder brother Yusuf did the damage with five wickets. West Zone then occupied 14.2 overs accumulating their 28 runs for the easy win - I'll bet that went down well.

So England's up and comers have a feel for an overseas tour, but they also know what it's like to lose. Adil Rashid looks the most likely to graduate to the Test XI and Monty lacks penetration. One wonders if it's all worthwhile.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]

Super Sixes: Sehwag vs Andrew Symonds

Monkey streaker at Australia vs India

Very tasteful bit of streaking at Adelaide, I'm sure you'll agree.  On another point, are the stewards here not the slowest and most useless set of enforcement personnel you have ever seen?  Apart from Mike Proctor, obviously.

Cricket Snapshot: "Say what?"

Harbhajan queries the detail of the comments from the crowd today at The Gabba.  [Image: Getty]

So what did Harbhajan Singh actually say?

Harbhajan has been cleared of racial abuse at his appeal.  Apparently, the decision to downgrade his offence from a 3.3 to a 2.8(?!) all hinged on the fact that Symonds could not rule out the fact that his Indian adversary might have said something else.  So what is it that the spinner may have said that was not, in fact, "monkey"?

Betting Coach - Australia vs India The Fourth Test: the Reckoning

So one week on, how did The Trumpet's tips turn out?

India at 8/1 gave a good run for your money, but neither bowling attack had the venom to take wickets quickly enough on an excellent pitch - a sixth day would have been interesting. Virender Sehwag was tipped as top Indian bat at 6/1, alas for the first innings and not the second dig. RP Singh's injury saw him blow his chances of being top  Indian bowler (1st innings). Close, but no cigar with the fixed odds bookies.

Over on the spreads, The Trumpet advised a sell on Australia at 85-105 for 1st innings supremacy, which settled at 37 for a handy win of £48 to a £1 per run wager. Most of that would have been lost on the advised sell on Punter's runs which was quoted at 103-110 - despite injury, he still managed 140 which loses £37 to a £1 per run wager. Finally, VVS was recommended as a buy on his total match runs (quoted at 73-80) - it wasn't quite the fairytale ending to VVS's glorious Australian career, and his 63 runs lost his supporters £17.

To come out £6 down on the spreads and lose out on the fixed odds markets narrowly isn't such a bad result when looking for value. The Betting Coach will be back for the New Zealand vs England series.

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty] 

Super Sixes: MS Dhoni clobbers Pakistan

India take an unassailable lead in last year's ODI series vs Pakistan, via a massive victory six from their captain.  Outstanding.

Adelaide: the final countdown

OK, OK, a slightly over-the-top headline, but for a Test match to go to day five with at least two results still in the balance is surely worthy of a tad of hyperbole? And anyway, this is the last Test report I'll get to do for at least a month.

Yesterday I said, along with the rest of the world, that this morning's session would be crucial. India needed to bat through until lunch without loss to hold on to a draw. Australia needed to take quick wickets to have a chance of winning the match. Of course, they have already retained hold of the series trophy, but a win is the outcome they would have been wishing for.

The morning session went very much the way of the Indians. A slight glitch when Rahul Dravid had to retire hurt - there's only so many times that damaged fingers can be restrapped, but it didn't halt Virender Sehwag as he processed serenely to his 50 with Sachin Tendulkar alongside him at the crease. He then went on to get his 13th Test century (and the quickest of the series) but the gloss soon came off for India as Sachin was run out just two balls later. Good news and bad news for Australia. They would have hoped to take a handful of wickets before lunch, and hoped to restrict the run rate rather more severely than Sehwag allowed.

India resumed after the break with a lead of 105, Sehwag still at the crease accompanied by Sourav Ganguly. Who didn't last long, gone for 18 but it took a referral for the umpires to be sure that Hussey had caught him cleanly and it was not a bump ball. A genuine need for referral or just another example of umpiring uncertainty post Sydney - you decide.

Tea came and went and India pootled on allowing Sehwag to notch up 151 runs in a fairly pointless cause. Nice though that Gilchrist was able to take one more catch before Kumble declared just half an hour shy of the official finishing time. The match was drawn and what could have been an exciting day's play ultimately had petered out into a rather tedious display of Indian batting in front of a very much less than capacity crowd.

On now to the One-day series, but first the little matter of the Harbhajan hearing. We await the result of that with rather more interest than we had in the final session and a half of today's play.

[Image: Getty] [mimitg]