I am fine with having Ballance along with Cook and Compton if he has got his technique sorted. He showed in 2014 that he can be fluent once he gets himself in.

I like Hildreth whether he is good enough for England I am not sure but would be willing to give him a go. Vince not in test cricket yet for me, if we are picking the best XI available Bell probably is in the team but I think England have moved on.

Really impressed by Jake Ball's improvement in the last 12 months, has added a yard of pace, can get bounce from a length and move the ball. I think both the Curran brothers are slam dunk picks for the future as bowling all rounders, very talented.

Very sadden by this. I have seen Taylor play more than most as a member of Nottinghamshire and he very much deserved to make it into the England team in the last year.  He was in particular a fantastic one day player and had the ability to work the ball for runs when so many others couldn't.

Hopefully an early detection has saved his life, but it seems cruel at such a young age to be forced to retire not having fulfilled his potential at the top level.

The ATP and WTA are separate entities away from the grand slams. They have different events and in general the ATP players are paid more for playing the same amount (3 sets)as the women, even at dual events like Indian Wells last week the women's final was on bt sport and the men's on sky.

In an hypothetical example how far do you have to go down the men's rankings that you make Serena Williams a favourite in a 3 set match? 100,200, 1000, 5000....??

I think Jordan has played way too much international cricket for England over the last couple of years. He doesn't contribute enough with ball or bat and being an exceptional fielder seems to be blind some of his inadequacies.

It's not an easy ride, mostly desert and has at least 2 or 3 significant long climbs en route. There is definitely a very steep climb coming out of the la metro area whichever way you go.

Probably like bilzerian side but have no real idea of his fitness/ cycling background. I mean some of the climbs will be impossible for someone who has no fitness.

Definitely do the drive from San Francisco to la, it is stunning especially the bit south of Monterrey/ Carmel area.

Got to be honest I am not fan of LA, thought universal studios was a good day out however. Personally I would do far less time in la and more time in San Francisco/ San Diego and generally driving around California.

Anyone doing parkrun this weekend?

Off to Graves parkrun in Sheffield, you get to run through a community farm which is a bit different.

Agree have to give hales time, still early questions there though.
Questions more about Jonnys keeping. Ideal situation possibly Bairstow to really hit his strides as a batter, him move to 5, Buttler keeps at 7 and Compton opens?
Jimmy is class!

Was suggesting the same thing in the pub this weekend, bairstow's batting has been good enough to play him as a batsman at the moment.

My wife and I are determined to get involved in this. We are both dreadfully out of shape but have started the long slog preparing ourselves. It was horrible at the start of January but I must admit I'm starting to enjoy the trips to the gym.

We have set the middle of March as our target and have found the parkrun we'd like to have a go at. The times are irrelevant, we both just want to finish the race without having to take any breaks.

What I really like is its something achievable we can do and both feel proud of ourselves for achieving something TOGETHER at the end. Wonderful for our health, our lifestyle and our relationship - I can't see any negatives at all.

Good luck to both of you.

About 2 years ago, I was horrificly out of shape running anymore than 100m was a real challenge, I found this out very quickly doing couch to 5k. I am still most definitely considerably overweight but am in a lot better state of fitness and geniunely think I wouldn't be still running if it wasn't for the fact that I am totally addicted to parkrun.

Even if you can't run all the way that isn't an issue at parkrun, they have a tail runner whose job it is to stay behind everyone and make sure that everyone completes the course who wants to. I think the biggest concern of everyone who starts parkrun and running in general is that they will finish last, people will pack away before they have completed the course etc. This NEVER happens at parkrun.

 

Mitchell Johnson??

["Targets any one? I am hoping for about 26.30 as I ran 27.45 on the last one."]

"Targets any one?  I am hoping for about 26.30 as I ran 27.45 on the last one."

26.49  for me showed as an unknown but I know it was me, wasn't sure the recorder scanned me properly.

Burly scaffolder son ran 30.31 after getting dragged out of bed by yours truly

Steve

Steve email the parkrun and say your barcode wasn't scanned properly. I had this happen once before and they put me in manually.

Another match defining spell from broad? He has had made a career of this

Ran one of these last year as part of a bet- £25 I couldn't run below 24minutes for 5km, hungover from the night before, whilst wearing my converse. Great idea at 3am, not so much when the alarm sounded at 8am. Managed to run a 21:26 though! Worst £25 of my life. They are a great event for all abilities though, great to see those of all ages, shapes and sizes getting out and giving it a go.

That is pretty impressive on a hangover.

Did my first run for ages this week after knee problems. Steady five mins then five mins walking, repeat three times for 2.6 miles. Just going out now to do the same and aim to do the Donny park run first Sat in March.

Gl getting back on it.

Kingston parkrun tomorrow, probably bumble around in about 29mins maybe a bit quicker.

Ran 28:32, forgot my garmin so just ran what felt comfortable. It was my muddy and icy as expected

Kingston parkrun tomorrow, probably bumble around in about 29mins maybe a bit quicker.

I am pretty cynical person and when I bought running shoes they told me the 500 miles story, I was like yeah right.

As soon as I hit 500 miles in my last pair ( strava track this for me), I started to get real pains and aches in my legs. So after much nagging from the other half, I give in and get a new pair. Like magic no more aches and pains. The cushioning just goes in them after a while and the difference between bog standard trainers and running trainers is massive when running any distance. Huge business as you say especially with the boom in recreational running, parkrun had over 80000 people last week across the uk.

Mark, do you do any of the other parkruns around the world when on your travels?

Yup did 3 in South Africa when I was out there, they are pretty big there as well.

In fact myself and the girlfriend are committed parkrun tourists, which means we seek out new venues to go to each week. This is a bit of a niche in the parkrun world and there are quite a few like us (including ex blonde poster Gatso) who tour the uk simply to do a parkrun in different place each weekend.

I will be doing my 41st different parkrun venue tomorrow (out of 54 total parkruns) and I am by no means anywhere near the top in this category. In fact there is leaderboard for most events http://www.parkrun.org.uk/results/mostevents/