AND everyone was worried we'd be playing the West Indies Second XI this summer. With the Aussies dropping like flies over in India, perhaps Australia will be fielding its Second XI also?

COOLMORE Australia's regular newsletters are always entertaining, although naturally biased towards its stallions, and this week's edition was up with the best of them.

A SENIOR Higher School Certificate marker says there are probably too many school assessments throughout the year and that the burden may work against a good performance at exam time, when it really counts.

THE word was muffled but the message was clear. NSW had gotten away with blue murder in State of Origin I. Even, as Queensland skipper Cameron Smith said slightly under his breath yesterday, cheating.

Geelong has become its own hardest marker as the winning roll gathers even more momentum.