The League of Champions, the art of losing at cricket, and why I wear leather!!!

Chelsea also managed to get a result away at Juventus, which saw them improve massively after a lacklustre first half, and you can tell the effect Huddink is having on the team, if nothing else he should be offered the job full time for simply being able to get Drogba actually up for a game. It is great to see the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the Premier league (according to the tables) look a class above the 2nd best teams in Italy and Spain respectively, and with Man United and my beloved Gooners playing tonight, it would be great to see all four teams progress to the next round, and long may our domination of Europe continue.
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So we ended up losing the test series against the Windies 1-0, the first victory for Chris Gayle's side in five years, but it must be said they had a lot of help from the slow, low, and generally about as lively as a diabetic sloth pitches, which allowed 17 tons to be scored in just 4 games! A lot of people are pointing the finger at Straussy as captain, but I really can't put the blame on his shoulders, sure maybe he could of got the bowlers a bit more fired up (apart from Monty!), but he led the team well and its great to see him back in form with the bat. He genuinely appears to be one of those very rare breed of people that thrives under the responsibility, and I think while he may not be the most dynamic of skippers, he does do a good job and I can't see anyone else who would fit the bill. Number 3 remains an issue in the England batting line up with Shah looking too nervous to fill the vacancy left by Ian Bell it the position where you need a calm head the most, but I am hoping that an awesome start to the county season would see Michael Vaughan reclaim that spot as his own, after all he does like playing against the Aussies.

As for our bowlers, well Harmy is out of sorts, I thought Anderson bowled superbly in the final test with the old ball and he put down one of the best spells I have seen in Test cricket for a while, while Swann has shown that he can really be a key figure in this bowling attack. Monty Paneser looked ten times the bowler in the fifth test on his comeback after having had been dropped for the last few games and shock horror, he even bowled a few variations, now he just needs to temper those ridiculous appeals as while I am all for a bit of aggression and enthusiasm, he will never get any decisions if he keeps on winding up the umpires!

Talking of which, I am a fan of the referral system as a concept, but it needs to be refined ASAP, and it seems crazy to me to trial a system like this in an international game, when you have the facilities to implement it as the first class level, as then we could have ironed out the whole process through trial and error. Obviously from now on, the umpires decision should stand unless it is conclusive that he is wrong, like we have in rugby where the referee can ask the 4th official "Is there any reason why I cant give the try" instead of asking the 3rd umpire to decide whether it is out or not, as it would mean that a decision could only be reversed if there was an obvious reason and would stop the ridiculous decisions that we were stuck with in the West Indies. Anyway, bring on the return matches here in England, where I think our pitches won't be as lame as a dead duck and we might actually get some results!

I had my first training session with the Birmingham & Solihull Bee's on Tuesday morning, and it must be said after a year out not playing (although obviously Scott at Arch 20 Gym on Lionel Street in the Jewellery Quarter has been keeping me in tip top condition!), it was kind of weird to go to a three hour training session and not even see a rugby ball as we focused on conditioning and then played a game of footy at the end.....but I wasn't complaining! Its all down to the fact that after their massive game with Leeds in the EDF Trophy and their win last weekend, they are having what is known as a down or quiet week, where you let your body recover and stop the players from burning out.

I haven't had as much fun in ages and it was just great to be back with a set of rugby boys and be around all the banter again. All the lads made me feel incredible welcome (us rugby lads are a nice lot!), so I can't wait for the next session tomorrow morning, although I think when they go back to their normal training routine next week I will be in a lot more pain, as these boys are all pro and don't muck about! Big thanks to Russell, Eugene, and Jo for letting me come down and train with them plus all the boys for putting up with me, and for inviting me along for the rest of the season, I can't tell you how happy I am to be back playing! They are taking on Mounts Bay from Cornwall on Saturday at home, it's a 2pm kick off, if you fancy going down and lending your support at there Solihull ground, and you won't be dissappointed as they play a dazzling style of rugby!!!

So tonight I will be "Bringing the Noise" to the Fizzy Pop Room in Gatecrasher from 10pm, so if you like your rock, indie, electro and just general awesome tunage, I'll see you there!!!

Oh and one more thing, I am making the step into motor journalism by writing a brand new column in the Mercury's sister paper the Birmingham mail and the number one selling bike magazine MCN, called the Motorcycle Diaries. The idea being that each week I get given a different bike on my many adventures, and then write each Friday about my exploits and let you know what I think of the bike!

I get the first bike Friday from the Lovely people at Streetbike, and talking of which, here is the latest band to come in and do a Live at Kerrang gig, Madina Lake, signing the Kerrang/Streetbike Yamaha R6 which will be auctioned off for charity at the MCN Live event held at Skegness in April!

Check back on Friday for my preview of the weekends big sporting action, and to hear about my second training session with the Bee's!