Gerrumonside ref

I think this talk of Iran going down a ‘dangerous path’ could easily be applied to the UK too now as could the ‘serious consequences’. Whether you believe or not that the seizing of an Iranian tanker off Gibraltar was a cunning intel ruse by hawks in Washington to ultimately draw us into their policy sphere with regards Iran - it is fair to say that’s where we might end up now. Although it might seem like our strongest response is to abandon our previous joint diplomatic approach towards Tehran with France/Germany and pitch in with the US, we could quickly find ourselves biting off more than we can chew.

Whyte put on a great boxing display and recovered well from a knockdown by the heavy hitting but one dimensional Rivas. Good wins too for Chisora and Price.

There’s an excellent Fleetwood Mac tribute band called Rumours of Fleetwood Mac. They perform the full range of hits from all the different band incarnations including “Albatross”. We really enjoyed them when they came to Manchester. They’ve really nailed the look and the sound and are even endorsed by the real thing. It was a great show.

I think the issue is that there isn’t the same unity amongst NATO allies as to how to best deal with Iran compared to say the threat of Russia. The capacity to act might exist, but there has been a split between London/Paris/Berlin wanting to explore a deal and Washington on the other hand taking a harder line with Tehran. This is prior to last night. There is a shared interest though over maintaining access to these vital shipping lanes.

NATO’s naval assets (or a part thereof) have been in the Black Sea doing exercises: https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_168031.htm

Options seem limited: escalate the situation or embarrassing climbdown. You would like to think that when we seized the Iranian tanker near Gibraltar and Iran said they would retaliate, that we had a fairly detailed strategy ready to go in the eventuality of that retaliation taking place. Maybe a face-saving fudge can be found to avoid losing too much prestige.

Second tanker being tracked moving away from Iran.

Iran news agency (semi official) denying that a second tanker has been seized and that instead it was just ‘warned’.

Two tankers seized according to some reports.

In all seriousness, what is the best response here?

I can see the benefits of this only for the big clubs as it reduces the likelihood of them ever being knocked out by a single shock result. Even then I think in any group situation you are going to produce some completely meaningless games at the end. I’d suggest the interest levels for them will be extremely low.

It’s a dreadful idea to have group games in the Challenge Cup The analogy with the football’s Champions League is farcical as it is the chance to see matchups between Europe’s giants from different leagues in that context. It’s nothing like the same in rugby league.

Mills in - see below: https://sussexcricket.co.uk/news/14-man-squad-named-el-clasicoast-opener Archer injured I think.

To me, this tournament shared between Sky and a big FTA broadcaster would be ideal for cricket’s national exposure. In case anyone didn’t catch the TV preview there are some really good players in it this year including Martin Guptill as gingerjon has mentioned: AB de Villiers (Middlesex and South Africa) Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Middlesex and Afghanistan) Eoin Morgan (Middlesex and England) Glenn Maxwell (Lancashire and Australia) Aaron Finch (Surrey and Australia) Imran Tahir (Surrey and South Africa) Nicholas Pooran (Yorkshire and West Indies) Babar Azam (Somerset and Pakistan) Mohammed Azir (Essex and Pakistan) Rashid Khan (Sussex and Afghanistan)

T20 Blast about to get underway. Some of the counties have made interesting overseas signings with a few big names. Nottinghamshire are the favourites and will kick things off against the defending champs Worcestershire on Sky now.