Ashes update: Bashar bats for England, Pietersen warned and Aussies in France

Fresh after two extremely one-sided maulings at Durham and Lord's, Bangladeshi skipper Habibul Bashar shocks the entire cricketing world by claiming that England were tougher opponents than Australia. He felt that Bangladesh found it much harder to play in England than they did in Australia two years ago. I tend to believe that the Bangladeshis found the summer in Cairns and Darwin a lot easier to handle than the dreary cold British "summer" at London and Chester-le-Street.

Ricky Ponting led his mates to a visit to France to honour Australian soldiers who died in World War I. But before he left for France, he pointed out that Australia had their own answer to Flintoff by categorizing Gilchrist as an all-rounder. Obviously he is right.

Pietersen's claims that he could pick Warne's deliveries nice and clean and the initial apparent bonhomie between the two are finally on the verge of disappearing after Warne made it clear that Pietersen was a marked man. Meanwhile, Ronnie Irani added his own fuel to the fire, in spite of his earlier punch-up with Warne, by claiming that Australia would dismantle Pietersen's game easily. Isn't he failing the Tebbit test here?

Derek Pringle wonders if Ponting's recent statements on sledging opponents are in fact a pointer to a weakness. He points out the example of how Gilchrist did not endear himself to Aussies with his walkathons.

Meanwhile, Jason Gillespie reveals that he loves wrestling and hates ice hockey.

BBC Sport wonders about England's reserve strength and if they would make it to the final side.