This is an unofficial Bulletin Board - owned and run by its users. We welcome all fans of the Mighty Collingwood Football Club.
Ad blocker detected: Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker on our website.
"England's Jimmy Anderson has been ruled out of tomorrow's first Test as England look to best utilise the veteran seamer throughout a hectic Ashes campaign.
Anderson was set to become just the third non-Australian to play five Tests at the Gabba, after fellow bowling ironmen Courtney Walsh and Daniel Vettori, but after initial reports today he had suffered a calf issue, the ECB confirmed he is "fit to play, and is not carrying an injury."
"Gabba head curator David Sandurski admits he's been struggling to sleep and has placed so many phone calls to Brisbane's meteorology bureau in recent days they might justifiably consider some sort of intervention order.
But the man in charge of preparing the playing surface for Wednesday's Vodafone Ashes Series opener is confident a weekend burst of the Sunshine State's eponymous feature will ensure the Test pitch doesn't replicate the one rolled out for last month's seamer-dominated Marsh Sheffield Shield game.
And despite it sporting a generous mat of green grass today, neither England captain Joe Root nor Australia coach Justin Langer have thus far subjected Sandurski to scrutiny in the knowledge that fretting over pitches two days out from a match starting wastes valuable mental energy.
Root planned to cast an eye over the pitch during the course of England's training session at the Gabba this afternoon, and cited uncertainty as to how it might play as a reason why he had yet to settle on a starting XI."
Pretty volatile at this time of year, but no big system is threatening the Gabba atm. There could be some reasonably short interruptions to play.
With probable o/cast conditions and a greenish tinge to the wicket, it will be tempting for either captain to insert the opposition. Although history tells us visiting skippers who send Australia in, come off the Gabba Test 0-1.
Including Stokes, the Poms have named 5 quicks in their 12.
England XII: Joe Root (c), Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler (wk), Haseeb Hameed, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
Partly cloudy. High (80%) chance of showers, most likely from late this morning. The chance of a thunderstorm, possibly severe. Light winds becoming north easterly 15 to 25 km/h in the middle of the day then becoming light in the evening. 5-20mm of rain.
