With Jordan Henderson joining Liverpool from Sunderland for £20 million and the proposed move of Phil Jones from Blackburn to Manchester United for around £17 million it would appear once again that the prices being paid have moved to another ridiculous level. However, the effects of the 25 man squad with the limits on foreign players are starting to kick in as clubs scout around for the best English players to add to their teams. Since the start of last season Manchester United have lost Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Owen Hargreaves already with transfer rumours surrounding Wes Brown and Danny Welbeck amongst others making it imperative to either promote more youth players or sign players like Phil Jones who may not make the difference in being able to stop Messi next season but is someone tipped for the future. This regulation may also explain why Michael Owen got a one year extension on his contract.


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   As well as England's attack bowled in the first test against Sri Lanka the second test showed the limitations of only picking four bowlers. What was highlighted even more, however, was how much England missed Paul Collingwood who not only took pressure of the bowlers on flat pitches allowing them to rest but whose catching in the slips was an asset. Without him in the team the pressure is on Graeme Swann to hold an end up even more with very little in reserve from back up bowlers. Pietersen, Trott and Bell can all turn their arm over but not regularly enough to bowl spells of several overs which is despite how well Eoin Morgan has done the inclusion of Ravi Bopara may have added more balance to the team. Our batting line up with Broad and Swann at 8 and 9 should be strong enough to add an extra bowler and move them up the order one but having included Morgan already and see him score runs I doubt if they would drop him now.