HOPEFULLY we don't yet know whether Steve Harmison has managed to synchronise all his moving parts under the guidance of Kevin Shine because England will have won the toss and piled up a decent total on the first day of the second Test.

That's positive thinking, but it's also realistic as there's no reason why England shouldn't make big totals against such a threadbare attack. I didn't need the brainwashing in accentuating the positive which professional cricketers evidently endure during their media training in order to appreciate that Australia's four-man attack is, in effect, only a three-man attack. As the pitch wears the ageing Warne, clearly past his best, takes over when the geriatric McGrath tires in the second innings.

When you've heard it all many times before, the headlines about bouncing back were all too predictable, not to mention the "We must build on positives", which appeared on Alastair Cook's column in a reputable national newspaper. Even Michael Vaughan said his seven-ball duck the other day was "a huge positive."

Cook's column was dull and uninformative, as most of them are, even Paul Collingwood's on the BBC website, while I'm not even sure I believe Harmison when he uses his Mail on Sunday column to tell us that he froze at the start of the first Test.

Why should he freeze? It's not his first Ashes tour, and the gremlins he suffered then should have been expunged by the knowledge that he has since been ranked as the world's best bowler and has helped to regain the Ashes at home.

He was entitled to be nervous, as they all are, but the great players in any sport channel their nervous energy so that they rise to the occasion. For someone who has touched Harmison's heights to claim that he froze is either a lame excuse or an admission that he can no longer handle the big occasion.

England evidently feel it would be a slight on Shine to take up Dennis Lillee's offer of help, but as the two shouldn't really be mentioned in the same breath Harmison should insist on seeing the great man. Perhaps only Malcolm Marshall and Richard Hadlee could match Lillee's ability to make a ball do as he liked at pace, so he has to be worth listening to.

Or perhaps Harmison has repeated his Sabina Park performance of seven for 12 overnight, in which case I take it all back and look forward to headlines such as Shine polishes up Harmy, or Shine makes Harmy glisten.

AT LEAST Justin Rose stuffed it up the moaning Aussies by winning their Masters after some of them complained about it becoming part of the European Tour.

The Tour seems to go everywhere nowadays bar Antarctica and the United States, where Rose has played for the last three years and has obviously learned enough to be confident of fulfilling his ambition to play in the next Ryder Cup.

He has never been able to live up to the star billing he achieved at 17, when he holed from the 18th fairway to tie for fourth place in the 1998 Open. But he showed in Melbourne that he has the bottle to overcome adversity as he blew a three-stroke lead with a triple bogey at the seventh hole in the final round, but went on to win by two. The next seven were all Australian.

IT WAS a shock to hear of the death of Graham Roope, still fit and active at 60, while with the Lords Taverners in Grenada. No doubt he will continue to feature as the answer to the quiz question: Who was at the other end when Geoff Boycott completed his 100th hundred? But he will also be remembered as a Surrey batsman who developed a liking for the North.

He spent some time in Durham, playing for Chester-le-Street, then coached at Ampleforth College, where he also became involved in setting up sporting scholarships for boys from under-privileged backgrounds.

I last saw him a couple of years ago doing some Yorkshire cricket commentary for local radio. He was one of those who seemed to find it difficult to settle to anything once his professional career was over, but while some become suicidal he continued to find great pleasure from the game and his passing is sadly premature.

WHILE Andy Robinson had to go, there is no obvious answer to the question of who should take charge of the England rugby team. They still have three coaches, so do they need another one, or should they just install Martin Johnson as manager in the hope that his very presence will be inspirational?

That would surely be a reckless gamble and if they want to go down that route Dean Richards would be a better bet as he at least has several years' management experience. But on recent form, if a head coach is required the job ought to go to Richard Hill, who has done remarkably well to take Bristol to the top of the Premiership in only their second season back in the top flight.