For one day, at least, all is as it should be

Today was a great day for the Barmy Army in particular. They got back their trumpet and their Monty. And what an Ashes debut Monty gave them! While he humbly says he trusts the England selectors, by turning in the 3rd-best innings ever bowled by any Englishman at the WACA he let us know that those selectors are in fact morons.

In a way, the selectors did Monty Panesar a favor by not selecting him until now. He's untainted by the debacles in Brisbane and Adelaide. He also gets to feed off a resurgent Steve Harmison. The two make a great "good-cop, bad-cop" pair. Harmy scares the batsmen, and then when they relax or get aggressive against Monty he catches them off guard.

I don't know whether Monty could have turned either of the last 2 matches in England's favor - we'll never know. I don't even know if his efforts will be enough to prevent them from losing the whole series this week. But he was already my pick for England's Sporting Personality of the Year award (or he would be if I were English and could vote in it), and this just makes his case stronger.