Chris2K

Ted Kravitz suggested on his most recent notebook that Saudi Arabia wants to hold three races every season, one each in their three biggest cities, so that's something to look forward to for the "27 races in 2027" calendar.

Just a side note - Secret Invasion is really, really good. If people don't like Samuel L Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn and Olivia Coleman trying to act circles around each other I don't know what people are ever going to like.

There is not a chance I remember that those races are on a Saturday. I appreciate their efforts to group races together geographically to try and cut down on travel, even if it means moving Suzuka away from its traditional spot, but that Miami->Imola->Monaco->Montreal->Barcelona grouping remains bizarre. At least Baku isn't in the middle of it any more.

As much as I love it, it seems an odd decision given the lengths all the cars are going to with not painting carbon fibre to save weight/improve airflow, surely chrome is going to be at odds with that?

The Braveheart remake the world never knew it wanted.

Also there's a difference between doing it as a warning to keep someone in their crease, and doing it, appealing, accepting the wicket and celebrating. But at least Carey can hit the stumps, of course Bairstow missed. The only example I can think of is when England ran out Grant Elliott in an ODI when he collided with Ryan Sidebottom and upheld the appeal when asked by the umpires. I can assure you I was as damning of them then as I am of Australia now. And don't get me started on the numerous times India have done something like this.

With Stokes out the result is all but confirmed, so now we just wait for what happens after the game is finished...

The track limit penalties are insane. It's such a short lap that a driver could do the 3 track limit errors on the same corner to get a penalty before the system has even acknowledged the first one. If it's not an instant decision then the punishment has to be reduced.

I would argue the de Grandhomme incident was wildly different, mainly because de Grandhomme was clearly setting off for a run (most likely to distract the umpire from the LBW appeal) and was trying to get back into his crease after the run was turned down. Plus the ball had hit him and went to Pope in the slips, not straight through to the keeper. I don't think there's anything you can legislate to prevent it, Bairstow is certainly at fault, but in a time where the lawmakers are desperately trying to speed the game up with over rates at a record low, forcing every over to end with a unanimous acceptance between both teams that the ball is dead is going to make it worse.

It's dozy from Bairstow and out in the laws of the game, the issue is that there is no definitive "the ball is dead" moment, and there is a fair assumption that when the ball has gone through to the wicket-keeper off a fast bowler, that's the end of the delivery, or in this case, the end of the over.

I think it is. I don't think this is being tried in the first over of the first innings. When you have a chance of winning when a team is chasing, and both wickets and time become much more pressured factors, you try to get wickets any way you can. All that said, anyone in the Long Room making comments to the Australians as they walk past need to get thrown out as well. Simply not clapping as they walked past made a powerful enough statement.

Very sad to hear about van 't Hoff's death, but to defend Spa, the accident took place on the Kemmel straight in conditions that there was absolutely no reason to be racing in, let alone a one lap shoot-out with all the cars bunched together. People can blame Spa if they want, but this could have happened at any track if decisions like that get made. Sorry to change the subject so swiftly, but the sprint yesterday was very entertaining. The decision to make it a separate entity from the race has made everyone more interested in racing and has made the concept far more worthwhile.

Garbage really. Yes he was out of his ground and yes the ball wasn't officially dead, but not even the most pathetic of village sides try to get a wicket that way. There's no big sign saying when the ball is or isn't live, you have to make an assumption that when the ball is in the wicket-keeper's hands that there's not going to be a stumping attempt off a fast bowler. It's not like Australia weren't likely to win anyway. Stokes is Stokes, but not even he can score 230 by himself. This is why having someone like Woakes or Overton at number 8 is a necessity.

The Spurs seem to be emerging as a potential landing spot, but I don't know what they could possibly give to the Blazers other than future 1st rounders. Given his existing relationship with Butler and Adebayo surely the Heat is the only likely option.

Might I suggest the Minnesota Timberwolves. He would be the perfect fit to play alongside our 7 Centers.

Some might say that Australia are doing so well, they don't need to start claiming catches where the ball is clearly on the floor...

Most notably, VanVleet becomes the first undrafted player in history to receive a max contract. Shame it's with the Rockets.

I guess the divide in wrestling has just moved on to the video game scene. I'm sure there are people hating on it to defend against WWE, and I'm sure (perhaps moreso) there are people blindly ignoring the faults to defend AEW. A couple of the reviews I've seen have said they were hesistant to criticise the game due to the abuse they received from the extreme AEW fans for negative opinions they had given in the build-up to the release. Based on that, the average scores it seems to be getting seem to be about right.

Given how he performed today, de Vries might be out before the sprint race. Checo too. No penalty for Max by the way, possibly because nobody would believe that a Haas would get held up by Max.

I don't think it's possible to convince me that Declan Rice is worth 2 and a half James Maddisons. Really pleased we got him.

This is Red Bull/Marko we're talking about, so logic has to be taken out of the picture. I reckon Danny Ric for sure, his marketability is too big of a factor. The either Yuki or Ricciardo go to Red Bull to replace Checo in 2025.

I wish the Just Stop Oil protestors had messed up the pitch and postponed the game, because this England bowling is not worth watching.

Nothing against Tongue, but there's at least three seamers I'd pick ahead of him (four if Wood was fully fit), I've no idea what both Overton brothers and Chris Woakes have done wrong to get ignored. With regards to the report that has been run into cricket, it's 100% correct. I stopped scoring because I got so fed up of the culture, be it the treatment and privacy of their own wives and girlfriends, the fact that teams are selected based on friendships rather than talent or form (maybe that answers the above question about the Overtons and Woakes) and that if you dare be any different then you will be the subject of abuse. I once got locked in a changing room until I downed a pint (I don't drink), but they weren't smart enough to realise I had a key. If that's what I get for something so minimal, I hate to think what any people of colour have to go through. The sad thing is I don't think this will change anything. It feels like team sports are at the stage where this is so ingrained that it would be almost impossible to completely get rid of it.

How on Earth did John Collins' stock fall so far that he gets traded for the hollowed out cask of Rudy Gay AND a pick?

I enjoyed Secret Invasion as well. The AI opening doesn't bother me at all and there's genuine interest in almost every MCU character as to whether they're a Skrull or not. Well, at least the ones that have credits for the series.