I feel a bit for Andrew Symonds.

I've got the best of both worlds, being able to be there for the birth, which is probably the most important thing, and then still have a chance to be available for the first game.

I spoke to Kookaburra this morning and they said we could use the bats during the one-day series not the Test matches.

That cat can block. He's the real deal.

Our timing is really off right now. We couldn't get anything going all day and Monte really wasn't in a good rhythm. We couldn't turn the sticks and that's a big part of our offense to keep drives going and to keep the defense out there a long time.

It looks magnificent. It looks very flat, no grass on it, nice and hard - so I think it's going to be a great spectacle.