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Listed below are comments made by girlondonblogger between Saturday, 11th July 2009 and Thursday, 24th December 2009.

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Durban awaits for TMS team 11:14am on 24 Dec 2009 CollisKing - you're not the only one who doesn't like the referral system. I must say I hate the way it interrupts the rhythm of the match and no doubt whilst folks are hanging around waiting for some decision to be made. Andy Flower has expressed his reservations too.

Democratic systems have no place on the sports field and the umpire's decision should be final. If they want to use Hawkeye, Hotspot or whatever to help them make the decision that's fine, but no referrals from players, please. It becomes another opportunity for gamesmanship.

Adam - you've got an excellent addition to the team in Michael Vaughan - his analysis is of course top notch, and he interacts very well with the TMS team. It's always a real pleasure listening to the commentary.

I wish all the TMS team and the England team a merry Christmas and look forward to start of play on 26th December!
Vaughan joins Test Match Special 8:06pm on 19 Sep 2009 It's great to have Michael Vaughan on the TMS team. EdVicoforte who is complaining that he speaks with a Yorkshire accent should grow up, and actually listen to what the man has to say. The days when the BBC used only commentators with RP are in the dim and distant past.

There have been very few sportsmen in any kind of sport who have been so adept with the media as Vaughan; I for one always listened to his interviews pre- and post-match with great pleasure, not least because he always had some interesting insight to give. I'm sure that when he gets settled in, MPV will be as incisive as a commentator as he was influential as a player.

I totally agree with CollisKing and Strandedingermany - Matthew Hayden was a excellent commentator during the Ashes. It's amazing to think that on the field he was one of the most foul-mouthed sledgers in the Aussie team. What a very welcome transformation.
Cricket misses the point again 11:14pm on 03 Sep 2009 Wow what a fuss! I find it fascinating that some people contributing ot this site seem to feel a personal sense of affront by the fact that the umpires decided the pitch was not fit to play on. What's your next stage? The organisers of a fixture ask the crowd/BBC commentators to decide whether the pitch is fit?

The captains took advice from the umpires. Live with the fact that cricket is an outdoor game and is regularly disrupted by weather events; that will always be a risk. At least people got their money back. Had the game got under way and then been halted half-way through it might have been a different story.

I understand Lancashire benefited from a generous amount of cash from the ECB to improve their drainage system. Clearly the money was not well spent. Jim Cumbes is huffing and puffing to divert attention from the fact that the club is at fault (and he can see the county's bid for more international fixtures going out of the window).

The ECB have still not learned the lesson of 2005, when half the team went down with injuries - far too many pointless fixtures. Why on earth 7 one-dayers?

As to those who say of the players 'it's their job, let them get on with it' well let those dear people remember their words the next time they stay away from work for a few winter sniffles.
Flintoff a very English hero 10:34pm on 23 Aug 2009 What on earth was petulant about Freddie Flintoff running out Ponting? For goodness' sake.... that was the reaction of a top dollar cricketer seeing an opportunity and taking it. How many international games have you played, Mr Dirs?

How fascinating that in true Puritan fashion, the media find something to resent about a pivotal moment in sport.
Strauss's England worthy winners 10:18pm on 23 Aug 2009 Sorry Heckie the Cat - Australia were out-played, and Strauss had the edge as captain. Ponting was a fabulous captain when he had utterly fabulous players around him. They've gone, and Ponting isn't finding it easy any more than he did in 2005. Vaughan was the best captain England have ever had, because he had the ability to mobilise and motivate forces which on statistical analysis, weren't so fabulous. Strauss has the same job to do. This is why leadership is crucial to the England side, and Strauss has provided it at every level - cool under fire, and there's no series which stretches a captain's ability more than the Ashes. Hats off to that guy.
Strauss's England worthy winners 9:42pm on 23 Aug 2009 Absolutely phenomenal - I didn't believe it until the run-out from Freddie - how often has the big man been in the right place at the right time? Top dollar Freddie - your loss is a massive big hole in this team. Hats off to the selectors for keeping faith with Freddie and his most excellent successor, Stuart Broad.

Just to remind those who are huffing and puffing about the 2005 bus parade - we in London had just suffered the most appalling terrorist attack on the Tube. The open-top bus parade with hundreds of thousands of us out on the streets cheering on the team said that London was open for business (I got back on the tube to go to work the morning after it happened) - so you huffers and puffers, get a sense of perspective - and by the way, the England team didn't ask for it - it was Ken Livingstone who was then Mayor of London. The situation is different in 2009.

Hats off to Andrew Strauss - born to the imperial purple, he's up there for me with Michael Vaughan. Stuart Broad - great all-rounder of hte near future. Swann, fabulous spin bowling and how utterly deserved that he got the last wicket.

I'm celebrating - as I hope the team is........
Edgbaston ratings 10:01pm on 03 Aug 2009 I give the England team a big thumbs-up. This match was extremely unlikely to produce anything other than a draw - only 3 days and a bit -and so it proved. England are still 1-0 up and they shouldn't make big changes but should learn that Australia never roll over and die in any circumstances. But the ones who are talking up a draw are Australia - it 's a big deal for them, as they've been under the cosh for much of this series and it also makes me think of the scenes of ecstasy at Old Trafford when Australia secured a draw. Who'd have thought it?

Thirdwoman - agree, don't change things for the sake of it. However, I would bring Harmison in as he's got yet another haul of wickets for Durham today and he would support his mate Freddie Flintoff through thick and thin. I think we need him to replace Stuart Broad who I think will be a great bowler/batsman of the future - he is the real deal in so many ways but not quite yet and not in this series - despite his excellent batting yesterday. As Boycott so often says, they've got to get wickets, and England need to win this series by getting wickets which Broad isn't really doing at present.

CliveofAmerica - you're forgetting Flintoff waving towards the bowling coach at Lord's - he and Freddie worked out the plan of a full delivery followed by a short one, and the plan got a wicket.
Flintoff - England's gladiator supreme 10:06pm on 20 Jul 2009 Totally agree, SaintlyMark, Kit Ramsey and CharlesBurgessFry. Instead of criticising Flintoff for enjoying his last few test matches, listen to what Aggers said about Freddie enjoying himself: 'the Aussies will be thinking " oh dear" '; who'd want to face him throwing pin-point accurate, 95 mph exocets down the wicket? Freddie has not always got the wicket hauls but doesn't he just dry up the runs and probe the batsmen, thus helping others reap the reward; this is teamwork par excellence. In his interview he paid tribute several times to the team effort and it wasn't just said for effect. The inescapable fact which I know some England supporters find difficult to swallow is the crowds (and a few others not always able to attend matches)love him and he has an ability to lift the team and the crowd in a way which no-one else seems able to match.

Like every other human being on the planet (and that includes us), he's not done everything right in his life, but he's done an awful lot right and is a truly great sportsman. Greatness isn't just about statistics - they only tell half a story without a context.
Aussies collapse to revitalised England 9:10pm on 17 Jul 2009 Flintoff is so special and he showed it again today. Working with his colleagues he set the Aussies up - and how beautifully. Roaring down the wicket and scaring them to death so that the other bowlers can finish them off. Let no-one ever underestimate this man's contribution - it's not just numbers of wickets, it's how he sets them up. How much will the big man be missed; the sheer joy he brings to the game is unique.

Never say never with the Aussies; they should never be written off. However, Jonathan Agnew's remark that Flintoff had got his retirement out in the open, that he would now go out and enjoy his last few test matches, and the Aussies would be thinking 'oh dear' was very percipient.
Storm clouds gather over Camp England 10:30pm on 11 Jul 2009 Unfortunately this series is the culmination of a whole catalogue of huge blunders: the appointment of Andrew Flintoff as captain when Vaughan was injured, the utterly pointless Schofield Report, which brought about the sudden removal of Duncan Fletcher, the equally sudden appointment of Peter Moores, a coach completely without international experience of any kind and the removal of David Graveney, a selector with excellent experience, and the appointment in his place of Geoff Miller who is, let me remind people , the one who chose Darren Pattinson, a player whom not even the captain knew. Then Pietersen, a man who had no talent whatsoever for captaincy, was appointed. Then Moores and Pietersen were sacked, but the overall management remained the same. The best captain we've ever had gave up and packed it in. Then Flowers was appointed as coach by default, and Strauss had to come in and try to unite a dressing room in total disarray, all this only a few months before the Ashes!

The whole management of English cricket requires serious scrutiny - not just the players. The current debacle at Cardiff merely reflects total disarray in the management of the game.

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