poochandi, mercifully your calls aren't getting through, I took prophet's excellent advice and it's worked very well indeed. Anyway, gotta go, my breakfast awaits me in the conservatory.

G'day Profit. There's no need for anyone on this forum to "follow" the chook raffle, not with its resident salesperson here consistently plugging it in a transparently desperate attempt to have others validate his gullibility. Watson was a well-established international player with more than 60 ODIs under his belt before the chook raffle, not a "relative unknown", and even Marsh had already been selected for the West Indies tour - sorry, sunshine, but you can't just blithely tell outright lies and expect to get away with them, not here. Here's a chance to redeem yourself with some honesty, Profit. You claim that "international star-power" was not the reason for the chook raffle's success and enormous revenue. You claim internationals only helped generate overseas TV revenue, and also claim this component is peanuts compared to overall revenue. The whole thing is about revenue - even you have to admit that - so why did they waste millions and millions of dollars in pure profit enticing international players if they didn't need them to make the chook raffle a success? Do you honestly believe that if no internationals were involved the chook raffle would receive more than a fraction of the revenue it does? You claim further that Tests will not suffer from interference from the chook raffle, but already we've seen a Test series put in doubt, proving you wrong - it doesn't matter if it's part of the FTP or not, it's Test cricket, an elite contest between nations. By buying SLC, the BCCI is specifically stating it considers the chook raffle more important than the Test series. Why? Because it can't make as much money from a Sri Lankan tour of England as it can from having Sri Lankans stars in the chook raffle. But please, don't let REALITY intrude on your anti-cricket crusade or your fantasies of cheap Indian hegemony - unless, of course, you want credibility.

Tuesday, let Zaheer have his head, I say. He rarely has a good match, so it doesn't matter if he wants to make a complete fool of himself on those occasions when he does.

marklatham, can I call you Biff?

Ouch. My thanks to Tuesday for reminding me that if Henry is sacked by the PCB us Aussies might have to endure his commentary again. While no-one is as bad as Channel Nine's three stooges - Grieg, Lawry and Chappell - Lawson comes pretty close.

xspear, I have always had time for Harmison and Flintoff. When they're fit, in form and not pining for Durham or embarking on marathon beer swills, these two bowlers are very dangerous. KP is an excellent batsman and based on a tiny handful of matches so far, he may also be an inspirational leader. Monty is a more-than-adequate spinner. Cook has shown he has what it takes, Collingwood too. These are all elements of a good team with the potential to beat anyone - fair enough? However combining such elements into a team that can consistently perform well for longer than one series is something that has been quite beyond English teams since at least the 1980s, even when they had a bigger and more talented pool of players to choose from. I'm yet to be convinced that the latest surge in English hope - based on a dead-rubber Test and a few ODI wins under a raw captain - is anything more than another false dawn. Best of luck, though.

marklatham, you have obviously not been watching the test and still found it fitting to comment on the crowd strength along with the whinging aussies here.

Your precious Aussie players are lining their pockets too. Step back and think about what the players said when the CA raised the bogey of sponsorship conflict. They were ready to openly revolt. So, cut the holier-than-thou crap and let's have some fairness.

MasterG, foreign players are an attraction. I am not denying that at all. But, to say that IPL depends on them is a little rich. IPL happened without 3 major nations. The SL board had applied for a loan from the BCCI and that is common knowledge. The players being available has nothing to do with the FTP. The IPL has, in it's charter, mentioned that players will be released for any encounter part of the FTP. The SL-Eng series is NOT part of the FTP for the nth time. So, we'll talk about subversion when we come to it. You happily skipped through the subversion Kent is involved with. That does not seem to outrage you. But hairy-fairy, hypothetical test series that might be lost to IPL worries you more. Let's get a modicum of fairness here. Maybe, that would be asking for too much.

How many people live around bangalore?And what were the daily attendances for the test match. These figures would tell the story without any emotion involved.

Ah, go out of the office for half a day and see what happens... Prophet, I accept that India provides the majority of the IPL's money (be it through TV rights or ticket sales). However, the fact remains that the foreign players are a major attraction, and are undoubtedly a massive contributor to the success of the IPL. Why else would the BCCI be giving the Sri Lankan cricket board $70 million to ensure that their players are available for the IPL? Of course, this also increases the possibility of the tour to England being cancelled (as Sri Lanka will now be obliged to allow all their top players to line their pockets in the Chook Raffle). This in turn will result in the English players also being free to play in the IPL. But of course the BCCI would never stoop so low as to subvert international cricket in this manner... You can say what you like about the Future Tours Programme, but the fact remains that a potentially interesting test series is likely to be sacrificed to accommodate the IPL. I don't see how cricket fans can be expected to view this prospect with any great enthusiasm.

Tuesday, I agree with you on that. We don't perform as well against other teams. It is high time these guys showed some consistency across teams and tours. @y2jver1, unless the opposition team thinks they are better than Australian team, there is no point in competing with them. If can't even *think* that way, half the battle is lost already.

Prophet, I doubt whether the guys who crib really bother to watch Test match on TV, leave alone going to the stadium. Otherwise it is inexplicable to observe something like that.

Poochandi, if that is the case then what are these guys cribbing about test matches not being well-attended in India?

ArrogantOz, I get it that great captains need not be great coaches. But Pakistan players seem to do well when there is some authority figure is around to guide their immense natural talent. Captain Malik does not fit the bill. I think Pakistan did well under Javed Miandad than any other coach.

@Gloves, we all are busy calling you from India. A bit surprised to know that you have dinner inside your house.

But Proph, you are a bit off target about Test cricket attendance. I pretty much went on all the five days. Except for the weekdays, the ground was totally packed. Even on weekdays it must be atleast a third to half full when Australia was batting and when the Indians started their innings, you could see the crowds flowing into the stadium. And for the most part it was totally nonpartisan. The Australian players patrolling the boundary were encouraged and not abused. Test cricket in India is alive and well. Maybe that explains the stupidity of some posts here. It affects the stereotypes they have constructed in their mind and it is jarring to see Indian cricket fans not confirming to that. That is why you keep seeing the posts like India is killing Test cricket and they only support the shorter format. Sorry rest of the world, we cannot contort to your stereotypes.

Poochandi, that would have been too cerebral for poor little marklatham!

"They are usually answering queries like "can you help me find the 'Any Key' on my computer". " , awesome post Prophet. Best reply of the year! Pity it is wasted on such a drivel from marklatham. Clue to marklatham: actually it is not a specific key on the keyboard. Any. Key. Get it?

PennyPacker meet marklatham and vice-versa.

Gloves, I have an even better idea. Put your phone number up on your MySpace page with the caption "Telemarketers: Don't call this number <# goes here>". It should work. I haven't tried it personally but do let us know how you go.

Gloves, sure, mate. Post your phone number here and I'll see what I can do.

A certain member here who claims that he never follows the IPL should give his wild imaginings a rest. He is raging clueless. In the last IPL the Aussies left after just 4 games. So did the Windies. The English never came. Most NZ players play ICL. And he wants us to believe that it was the international star-power that made IPL the hit that it was. :-) A few Aussies did perform brilliantly in the IPL and it was here that Shawn Marsh and Watson announced their readiness. They are relative unknowns when they came into the IPL.

Gloves, sign up on the don't call register website. Millions have been advised to do that to stop them harassing at dinner time. I've found it has worked.

prophet: "Indians working in call-centres. They are usually answering queries..". In fact they are usually calling me in the middle of dinner, giving a false name and trying to sell me something I don't want. Most recently last night. Any chance you can use your influence to put a stop to this?