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Adam,

Thank you very much for the outstanding coverage so far during the series. I have particularly enjoyed Simon Hughes' commentary - he has been an excellent addition to the team. Looking forward to hearing from McGrath - a true legend who would be first pick in my all time XI.

sorry to be late to the party but have only just managed to get get off a knife edge to set up my computer. dont know what the boys were expecting for xmas but hope they enjoyed the eleven turkeys boxing day!! on a serious note players always have teams that they dont excel against apart from his double ton last time australia seem to be colly's.

It will be intriguing to see how Clarke goes in his first test as captain. He's won 25 of the 36 games he's skippered in ODIs/T20Is, but his spiky personality, poor form and off-field probs mean he's not quite been taken to the hearts of the Aussie public as skipper. I've collected some more stats, videos and miscellany on 'Pup' below...

Alastair Cook to top 600 runs for the series Bell to get his century.

If you want to read about what happened when Tom Fordyce met the great Arthur Morris - take a look at his blog

Hi Adam, thanks for the mention!

I'm back into 'Not tempting fate' mode for the SCG, athough England are increasingly impressive; apart from winning the Test, my one wish would be to see Colly get a good score. As far as Aggers and the Sprinkler Dance are concerned, if the result is right, maybe a guest spot for him on the SOH stage? ;)

I have Sky on the TV, muted, with TMS commentary; for all those who say the timelag is too great - TMS online, rather than on the radio, syncs almost perfectly with Sky pictures.

Good to see international sport supporting breast cancer!

The foundation was set up after Glenn's wife Jane was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of just 31. Sadly, she died in 2008 and the third day of every SCG Test will be known as "Jane McGrath Day" to help celebrate her life and promote the work of the foundation.

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They should have made it an earlier day for this test to be honest, coz if its anything like last week, the stadium will be empty apart from English fans :-)

7) I'm gonna go get the papers get the papers.

Word on the street is that the first 3 days are sold out. Different breed in Sydney Sir. Such is their love of Cricket along with their love for Glenn & the late great Jane, i suspect that we won't see many empty seats at the SCG.

Having said that, as a pom, we cannot take our foot of the throat. There is just too much Cricket in all formats coming up. Just imagine us meeting Oz in the world cup Final or semi, and imagine their mental state if they are coming off the back of a 1:3 Ashes defeat.

Top notch performance from you guys in the box this series Adam (as always.) Aggers and Geoffrey especially have been in outstanding form. Its made all those late nights really worth it. I agree Simon Hughes has been a super addition to the team. He is very insightful and offers excellent viewpoints. Mr Fordyce has upped his game recently as well. Seems to be combining more cricket based chat with comedy, where-as before i found he was simply writing a comedy script. Now he is focusing on the actual cricket more, he comes across as knowing more about the game than i thought. Enjoy the last Test, oh and is there any chance of Sir Geoffrey joining Aggers with the Sprinkler dance??????????

can't wait to tune in tonight...TMS is simply the best! thanks for the great coverage so far. Aggers looks like he has the right technique in the picture so I'm sure he'll look the part when England win.

It's about time Simon Hughes got another gig. His amusing and insightful comments have added greatly to the already excellent TMS commentary.

to all...how do you think Khawaja and Beer will get on?

Also, will Clarke do a good job as captain and is it right that Ponting is around the squad even though he is injured?

I'd love to know the stats of hoe many people watch Sky but LISTEN to TMS :)

Sorry, how not hoe!

I wonder whether the Aussie press will preface every mention of Khawaja with 'Pakistan-born', as they do 'South African born' with appropriate members of the England team! Probably only if he's xxxx!

@ #7, very classy, Jimmy2Times. That was a joke in the poorest possible taste.

This Sydney test match is very important for both teams
It is interesting to see how Australia will do in this test match
Will they play very poor like they did in the last test match or will they play a lot better without Pointing in this test match?

I expect England to win the Sydney test match

It's no surprise that Australia got a Pakistan-born player is there team.
We all know England are currently playing with 4 South African-born players in their team

I expect excellent TMS commentary for this test match as usual

#16 A little harsh perhaps. The comment was about the Aussie fans, it's the associated issues that renders it inappropriate. More ill-considered than pure bad-taste I suspect.

Another good article. Think you need to give the Barmy Army a mention with regards to thier brilliant support towards the McGrath foundation.
They do a fantastic amount of work for various charities. Keep up the good work boys and lets make it 3-1. Happy New Year to all and Sundry.

Just mention to Glen it was daft him predicting 5-0 to the Aussies. But wish him all the best with his foundation.

The McGrath Foundation has benefited from the Barmy Army pink Breast Cancer charity tee shirt on sale during the series and on full display in the Barmy crowd at Melbourne. Incidentally McGrath remarried in November 2010.

In the scheme of things The Cricket is a side issue (now I will be hung drawn and quartered).

It is a great idea to give the test a "Theme" to help raise money for charity and long may it continue.

As for the Cricket, even after one day it looks as if England are at least giving themselves a good chance of a result, but the test has four more days to run, so we could see some nice twists and turns before the game is over.

I just love Cricket, the game the drama, the fun and enjoyment, but most of all I love to see England beat Australia, so C'mon ENGLAND \0/

Looking forward to the next few days cricket. Pink hats, stumps included. Excellent idea.

kind of quiet down here........

Adam,

Very much enjoying TMS from down under and thought I would point something out which might help to add some background colour (no pun intended) to your coverage of Jane McGrath day on Wednesday.

The idea of using pink sports equipment to raise awareness of breast cancer first came about (I believe) in the National Hockey League in 2006. It went down so well that Major League Baseball followed suit that same year - and the campaign has become a regular feature of Mothers Day games in the MLB ever since. Players play with specially dyed pink bats, all teams wear pink caps instead of their regular uniform and so on.

Every year the MLB raises hundreds of thousands of dollars through sales of special merchandise and it has become a real tradition. Many other sports in the US have followed suit. Let's hope that Jane McGrath day can be as successful. And who knows? Maybe some day we will see sports in the UK similarly involved in worthy causes like this.

All this user's posts have been removed.Why?

The McGrath Foundation is a noble initiative. Interesting blog by Adam. All the best to Team TMS.



Dr. Cajetan Coelho

Seriously, The Pink Test!!! You could have at least mentioned it throughout the match. I just bought a new TV and kept adjusting the colour thinking there was something wrong with it. Thanks for that!!! Good cause though!!!

HELP REQUIRED! I'm struggling a bit with the famous Sky muted/TMS timelag. Any suggestions as to how best to crack this problem? Is there any sort of delay facility available?

PS Can I just add my agreement to those who've said that Simon Hughes is a fine addition to the TMS team (I am referring to the fast medium bowler, not the LibDem MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark).

If Superman can wear his pants outside his trousers, why can't Vic Marks do the same to prove he's wearing pink today?

Thank you for the continued, and indeed fabulous coverage which I've enjoyed for many years now as both man and boy. I've found myself moved to comment for what is my first time not just for the extraordinary series that is being played out but particularly for the featuring and highlighting of the cause of breast cancer in young women through the Jane McGrath Foundation's involvement in the Sydney Test (and it's link up with Breakthrough here in the UK). Before this I hadn't been aware of the details of Jane McGrath's experience but I now, through TMS, discover that her experience is almost identical to that of my wife Helen. She too was diagnosed at the age of 31 only a few months after Jane McGrath. She would have been in agreement with her in that there wasn't much allowance for young women with the disease in terms of providing relevant information and support. These things changed slowly over the course of her illness to the point now were there is far more provision for the unique circumstances that a younger woman finds herself in. But there is still much to do with this illness and initiatives that raise the profile of it, wherever in the world that may be and through whatever medium (I remember a couple of seasons ago Surrey's T20 squad were kitted out in pink?) are to be applauded, highlighted and supported. Helen died in 2008 when the cancer returned for the third time, as it turns out just a few months after Jane McGrath. Every year that passes sees improvements and advances in all aspects of treatment from emotional & practical support to improved medicines, all this possible by raising funds through awareness..best wishes to the Jane McGrath Foundation for the work they do and indeed TMS for highlighting such a cause in a way that only they could.

Adam, good TMS line-up this series: Sir Geoffrey always a pleasure, Michael Slater good value, Michael Vaughan improves but still talks too much, absence of Pougatch very welcomed (for Gods sake keep his 6th form earnestness to football and their easily-excitable fans) and the rest of them having a good tour. Would have been nice to hear Blowers though, he sounded rather forlorn when interviewed on Fivelive/Radio 2 (can't remember which) one afternoon in November. On the whole, excellent coverage as usual.

I would like to say a huges thanks to TMS and the team. It's been a lot more inspired and enjoyable this time down under. Going into work groggy eyed has been worth it this time around - be nice to take the series and the one dayers.

Wasn't aware of the Magga (McGrath) pink foundation before and lots of respect for that. As an England barmy fan my heart goes out to him and rivalries all aside.

So if we manage to pan the Ozzies again is it acceptable to rename the competition "The Smashes"? Such a good watch so far!

The "" technique for the managers of cricket is so much closer to the wire than football - it's like watching grown men play chess.

Now that it's piling on the love for charity my [pink] hat is well and truly off to the lads.

Well it's shame to hear of Colly's retirement from Test cricket, he has been until this series (which I say with the utmost respect for the guy) a brilliant batsman like a rock in the middle order around which the batting line-up could be moulded. At 34 it was always fair to say that Colly's 'hay day' is behind him, certainly in Test cricket, but he has always had more to his game than batting brilliance and his phenominal slip catch and bowling-out of Hussey have to be two of his biggest highlights in this tour. He'll be missed in the Test team, but at his age while he is still decent we have a good pool of talent outside the current lot to replace him.

This Fifth Test is fast fading out for the Aussies, with the series already long gone and a seemingly hefty challenge coming up with their 2nd innings in bat it looks like this game might well be winnable in four days like the last one. I say this rather hopefully, perhaps optimism is getting a little ahead of me, but from past experience in this series anything over 300 seems to be too much for Australia to chase down at the moment.

Also, fantastic century up for Prior from a very good knock. I can't quite believe it's only his fourth Test hundred, so many other good scores that just haven't stayed the extra few runs. I would not have anyone else as Test 'keeper-batsman at the moment in this England side, I can see why 20-over cricket doesn't really suit him but it's not unlikely that he'll get back into the 50-over ODI format in the near future even if only as a specialist batsman with someone else keeping. Here's to what will hopefully be a strong four-day win for England to take a brilliant Ashes series 3-1, bring on the ODIs!

The Barmy Army are great representatives over in Oz, but back home the Pyjama Army have been staying up well into the night to show support and listen feverishly to Five Live! Keep it up, guys, we're nearly there!

Many congratulations and thanks to Andy Strauss and his team for representing England so well and winning the series. Before the series began, I had decided that, having been an avid England cricket supporter for over twenty years, this is the last series that I will be following (if the so-called Barmy Army are the modern representatives of the English cricket fan, then for me, it's time to stop being one); and so I will be turning my attentions to my other great love, tennis. It's great, though, the last series I will follow has ended in a long-awaited victory in Australia! Thanks, guys.