jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on Jul 22, 2015 22:52:55 GMT
Yorkshire must feel hard done by, we've stop the badly out of form Ballance for the in-form Bairstow. If Bairstow does well that'll put Buttler under pressure, I reckon. I agree- I'm a bit surprised Buttler isn't under a bit more pressure already. He's never entirely convinced in the longer format of the game and so far has not shown much at Test level beyond an ability to score eye catching 30s. A terrific and innovative one day player but he needs to show he can deliver as England's Test keeper. Problem with Bairstow is that he's not much cop with the gloves. Buttler is far from a natural either but Bairstow is generally considered to be barely up to it at County level. Yorkshire seem to carry on regardless no matter how many players England take away from them - strolling to the Championship again. I've seen a fair bit of Bairstow this season and I think his keeping has improved immeasurably. He's not in the Read / Foster / Bates league but I think he's a better stumper than Buttler. Good bat too and I think he'll do well although I'd like a Ballance type figure in the middle order as 5-10 are all flashy. Good sides tend to have a Thorpe or Collingwood type in the middle order. On balance I think I'd keep Buttler in the side as he hasn't done much wrong but I do think there is an argument for replacing him with Rashid. Moeen would be a good 7 and Rashid a good 8. Stokes and Moeen are both inconsistent so having another option isn't a bad idea and a spinner who turns it the other way to Root and Moeen would give us nice variety. Adil is also a dab hand At getting rid a tail enders which is something England are dreadfully inept at.
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on Jul 21, 2015 12:14:02 GMT
Well there is a certain someone with a proven track record of scoring test runs for England currently sitting on a beach in Miami...... (Tin hat on.) The case to pick KP would have been more persuasive had he spent the whole season scoring runs for Surrey in my opinion. He hasn't played any four day cricket for almost two months.
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on Jul 19, 2015 17:14:40 GMT
Well what a turnaround guys, and I have to say I think I'm a little bit vindicated about Ian Bell he's had his day, please bring someone younger in who's in form, only england could let a pitch be prepared with no seam or swing four days after walloping the Aussies, prepar pitches that suit our bowlers, like Cardiff, reverse swing, seam movement, no we prepare a pitch that is great for whoever wins the toss to get a massive score, get lost confidence back, and because that team is Australia,will probably go on to win 2 or 3-1!!!! Once again, like I said after Cardiff, I hope I'm made to eat my words!!!! I'm not sure you can significantly alter the characteristics of a pitch a few days before a game. I expect the message went out weeks ago. The problem England have is that the obvious options in county cricket bat in the lower middle order. Bairstow is the obvious option as he's had a great season and Taylor seems to be rediscovering a bit of form too. They could move Root up the order and leave out either Bell or Ballance. I think they'll give them another test to turn it around though. The opener is also an issue. This highlights the stupidity of opening with Trott in the Caribbean. If Lyth had played those three tests we'd have a much better idea of whether he was up to it. If they wanted to play Trott they could have rested Bell. if Lyth doesn't make it I have no idea what they'll do. Hayles big score this season came at 3, Compton has also been batting at 3 and has had more success at 3 in the past than he has opening, Carberry has had an average season and is also batting at 3 and Chopra and Lees have had poor a season. Mark Stoneman would be an outside bet. Not great stats but he does bat at Durham which is tough. He's not going to have the Australians worried though. I'm not sure we have a lot of choice other than the stick with the same 11 and hope they can sort it out.
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on Jul 17, 2015 22:35:03 GMT
I don't think complete fan ownership is a sustainable model but I do think supporters should have a significant shareholding in their football club. The £1m plus that Rovers supporters have "donated" (per Barry Bradshaw) should ensure that the fans collective voice is heard. Clearly this hasn't happened at BRFC and for the reasons outlined in this thread it is my opinion that the SC will never be the right organisation to contribute to BRFC strategy or hold the board to account. Any board of directors who were serious about building bridges and utilising the talent of our fans should donate and ring-fence 25% of total shares in lieu of the fans £1m investment to an Independent Trust. I appreciate this would upset the SC but I think that organisation should be left to concentrate on their strengths. The two significant issues are, firstly, most of the people who had the ability to make a success of partial fan ownership have been crapped on from a very great height and have found other hobbies. Secondly, the board, including Nick Higgs, have shown no desire to promote fan ownership. In fact they have shown that they are hell bent on stamping out any growth. For that reason I think your endeavors will be fruitless and I suspect that like last time, you will find you have very little support other than the occasional message of goodwill. I was really impressed with a lot you wrote here, but don't know if the last bit is about what I was involved in last year ( The Wellie Group) ? How much support did we have ? Do you know ? I'd rather if others said what we did or did not achieve BUT we did get The people who run the club to actually contact us and then finally after much pressure hold a Q & A which you could have attended and asked questions. Did we get all the things we wanted ? NO, not by a long shot, but you could say we MAY have had some positive effect because the club we love got immediate promotion back to the league ! Cheers, Mark Sorry that last sentence is ambiguous. It should read, For that reason I think your endeavors will be fruitless. I suspect that like last time the idea of establishing an independent organisation was discussed, you will find you have very little support other than the occasional message of goodwill. If you decide to proceed finding enough people who are willing and capable of helping will be an enormous challenge. As I say, those who were interested have drifted away. I wasn't involved last time but one of the groups posted several messages on here asking for more support and greater numbers and I don't think their call to arms was answered in the affirmative.
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on Jul 17, 2015 12:47:52 GMT
I don't think complete fan ownership is a sustainable model but I do think supporters should have a significant shareholding in their football club. The £1m plus that Rovers supporters have "donated" (per Barry Bradshaw) should ensure that the fans collective voice is heard. if they were listening, what does this collective voice say? I can't answer that without canvasing my hypothetical membership.
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on Jul 17, 2015 12:33:13 GMT
I don't think complete fan ownership is a sustainable model but I do think supporters should have a significant shareholding in their football club.
The £1m plus that Rovers supporters have "donated" (per Barry Bradshaw) should ensure that the fans collective voice is heard. Clearly this hasn't happened at BRFC and for the reasons outlined in this thread it is my opinion that the SC will never be the right organisation to contribute to BRFC strategy or hold the board to account.
Any board of directors who were serious about building bridges and utilising the talent of our fans should donate and ring-fence 25% of total shares in lieu of the fans £1m investment to an Independent Trust. I appreciate this would upset the SC but I think that organisation should be left to concentrate on their strengths.
The two significant issues are, firstly, most of the people who had the ability to make a success of partial fan ownership have been crapped on from a very great height and have found other hobbies. Secondly, the board, including Nick Higgs, have shown no desire to promote fan ownership. In fact they have shown that they are hell bent on stamping out any growth.
For that reason I think your endeavors will be fruitless and I suspect that like last time, you will find you have very little support other than the occasional message of goodwill.
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on Jul 13, 2015 20:12:10 GMT
To capitalise planning costs there has to be a probability of future economic benefit. Given today's ruling I'm sure our auditors will be asking some pertinent questions.
I haven't seen the accounts but I guess cash flow insolvency is a more pressing issue than balance sheet insolvency anyway. We've not been borrowing cash from financial institutions at a cheap rate so writing off an asset probably can't make a seemingly bleak situation in his regard much worse. The ground will act as collateral for existing debt.
In layman's terms expensing the costs incurred to date are unlikely to impact our ability, or lack of, to pay back the Wonga loan.
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on Jul 10, 2015 11:18:37 GMT
First two and a bit days have been almost perfect. We bowled better than we have for ages. Really disciplined and we bowled fuller. We even held our catches and saw off the tail.
We've been rubbish for ages though and so I still have this nagging voice in my head saying 30-4 at lunch!
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on Jul 9, 2015 15:11:56 GMT
Think England bowled really well in that middle session. They took the edge a number of times and bowled a fuller length than they have for a while. Moeen did well too and he was definitely helped by Cook who gave him protection when the Aussies went after him. If he can stop them scoring he will take wickets as he gets spin and drift.
Quick word on Cardiff...in no way is it a test venue. The pitch is always turgid and the boundaries are way too small, neither of which promotes good cricket. England have genuinely hit the edge a number of times and the ball has dropped way short of a slip cordon who are really close in.
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on Jul 9, 2015 14:16:01 GMT
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on Jul 8, 2015 17:16:55 GMT
Can definitely hear Irene being sung at the cricket too!
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on Jul 8, 2015 17:02:29 GMT
Shame Root and Stokes both got out in the 70th-80th over but good to see us remaining positive. The new ball could clean us up so I think Moeen, Buttler and co should stay positive.
Our top order actual matched Australia last time. It was 7-11 where we lost it. The top order batted too slowly at the start and we'd be 260 odd for 5 after 80 overs then the new ball would see us off where as Haddin and the bowlers scored a lot of runs.
Even if the new ball does for us today at least we've got something to bowl at tomorrow.
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on Jun 25, 2015 12:59:47 GMT
If this was in Australia I think they'd win comfortably but home advantage counts for a lot in Test Cricket at the moment.
I'm a bit more optimistic regarding our quicks than I was. There are signs of improvement from Finn and I think Wood could make an impact this summer. I also like what I've seen of Footit and I think his selection for the pre-tour is a good pick. I'm a bit more hopeful that when Jimmy calls it a day one of the clutch of seamers who have threatened to make a breakthrough will step up to the mark and lead the attack. Short term though we are reliant on Anderson. If he gets an injury or loses form we're buggered. I think Australia will target him.
The spinner is a real issue. I think pitches are still likely to be dry and relatively lifeless as this has been the trend in England for some time. Lyon is under rated and we have a lot of left handers. Moeen is not in great form and they have a lot of right handers. The decision not to blood Rashid in the West Indies looks even more deplorable with that in mind, but having not picked him I'm not sure I'd want to blood him against the Aussies. No middle ground I reckon if they do pick him. It will either make or break his career. No pressure then!
They are well stocked with good bowlers but they have question marks hanging over them too. Can Harris stay fit, can Johnson actually perform in England, can Starc bowl as effectively with the red ball as he has with the white one and is Hazzlewood the real deal or did the Windies make him look good?
Our batting unit is difficult to call. I think you have to look at how they make runs rather than how many they've made to date. Lyth looked fairly comfortable even when he didn't make stacks of runs in the first test which is a good sign. Ballance on the other hand plays very deep from the crease. Cook is also fallible to this but he manages this when he's in form because he leaves the ball so well. I'm sure Bell will be fine despite his blip against New Zealand and Root seems to be moving his feet better than he did when he first came into the side. The rest will be up and down I expect. Not consistent but we have enough depth to ensure our lower order contributes something most of the time.
Their batting unit is ageing. Do the likes of Rogers, Voges, Clarke and Haddin have a good series or two left or are they on the way down?
Anyway, predictions. England will win the first test. Series will end 2-2. We're too inconsistent to win but we are on the up and I think we'll compete. However, you should probably discount anything Irish and I predict as I think he tipped Notts (bottom of Div 1) to win the Championship first division title and I tipped Kent to win Div 2 (also bottom)!
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on May 3, 2015 21:23:43 GMT
Moeen has basically bowled how we all thought he would before he made his debut in this series. He's a gifted cricketer but he's still learning and rushing him over to the Caribbean to play as the front line spinner is scandalously bad management. I actually disagree with your point about using this series as a warm up. If we were of that mindset we'd have rested Broad, Anderson and Root. Not having a clear strategy to win matches sounds about right though. That makes the coach and captains position untenable in my eyes. A lot of our success was down to Swann and Anderson but we were also very well drilled and squeezed every ounce of talent out of our players. That just isn't happening at the moment. Players are coming into the side and going backwards - with a couple of notable exceptions. It's going to be a long summer Yes, and that's the point. It's all very well having talented players but cricket is a strategic game and we're not getting the best out of them because we seem to lack strategy. On Moeen I just think we want him to be something that he isn't. For all his county career he has been a classy, aggressive batsman who bowled a bit more than occasionally. He's never shown any signs of being a consistent match winning spinner and he hasn't been developed as such. To wait until a guy gets to Test level and then him expect him to develop into something completely different seems crazy. If you want him to be a Test player, the focus on Moeen should be turning him into a World Class aggressive Number 6 batsman who can provide very able support with the ball to a frontline spinner. I just think it's pie in the sky to expect him to transform the type of player he is in the Test arena. Square pegs in round holes springs to mind. I don't think he ever will be a frontline spinner - but he'll always be a very good support spinner and he could be a major asset at number 6 if he could just become a little bit more selective. The point I was making on the warm up was not that we were literally treating this as a warm-up. Just that the way the culture around English cricket has developed seems to treat nearly everything as second order to the Ashes. Yeh I think Moeen could play as part of a 5 man attack in seam friendly conditions as the only spinner but you can't expect him to win you matches on what are basically sub continental pitches. If the selectors think Rashid is the best we have then they should have played him. What else could we do to develop quality spinners as it's clearly a problem? I think we have some talented young spinners but we don't play enough 4 day cricket in the height of summer. It's too easy to get by with a 70-75mph seamer on a green wicket in April or May. Someone like Borthwick is a good example. He had ability but he just doesn't get enough overs to develop. Azeem Rafiq is another example. He's got talent but he can't find a county following his release from Yorkshire. Sides would rather pay a bang average seamer than invest in a young, raw spinner and that's partly because the fixture list is weighted so that the rewards for finding a class spinner are relatively small.
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on May 3, 2015 20:58:44 GMT
It was an unnecessary comment from Graves but he's right. The West Indies have been a shambles and we should beat them. We've made things hard for ourselves by picking a middle order batsman instead of an opener and not picking a second spinner. If we don't win the series the chief selector should go and there will be a question mark hanging over the coach and captain too. They're both way too conservative in their outlook for my liking. Jordan has had a good 5 minutes mind! Yeah - but that in itself is a bit of an attitude problem. Give Trott a chance because we kind of think we can ease him back in against a weak Windies lineup. But, actually, Shannon Gabriel and Jerome Taylor are pretty decent with the new ball in their own conditions. We have treated this series as a warm-up for the next ones. We are far too focused on Ashes series and forget that Test Series have a value in their own right. Nothing wrong with developing players but we've been very slapdash in our approach. What is the role of Ben Stokes in this team? What is the role of Moeen Ali in this team? Good players with potential, undoubtedly, but it's not clear that England have a strategy for how they want to use them and how they want to develop them into match winners. Yes, Cook and Moores are very conservative and that will be a big reason why we don't win the series if Windies chase these down. But I think a bigger one is that they don't have a clear strategy for how we win matches. Jordan is a great sparkplug cricketer - he makes things happen. This has been a really good Test match irrespective of England's situation. It has gone backwards and forwards; Samuels is now putting Windies back on top here. Moeen has basically bowled how we all thought he would before he made his debut in this series. He's a gifted cricketer but he's still learning and rushing him over to the Caribbean to play as the front line spinner is scandalously bad management. I actually disagree with your point about using this series as a warm up. If we were of that mindset we'd have rested Broad, Anderson and Root. Not having a clear strategy to win matches sounds about right though. That makes the coach and captains position untenable in my eyes. A lot of our success was down to Swann and Anderson but we were also very well drilled and squeezed every ounce of talent out of our players. That just isn't happening at the moment. Players are coming into the side and going backwards - with a couple of notable exceptions. It's going to be a long summer
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on May 3, 2015 17:42:25 GMT
They are mediocre, unfortunately so are too many of our players. They've bowled pretty well but this is test cricket. You expect that. We've given them too many soft wickets and we'd probably have bowled them out for 50 runs fewer had Moeen and Root bowled fewer pies. Very frustrating. Maybe but that was a pretty arrogant comment for a team with a shaky recent record away from home. I think Windies have looked very fired up in this series and they definitely well enough to deserve the chance to steel a share of the spoils. The fact is England went through a period in which we had a world class strike bowler in his prime and a world class spinner; history says that'll win you a lot of Test Matches in all conditions. Now England has an ageing world class strike bowler and very inconsistent spin; that will win you less especially away from home. Anderson has had very little help from others in this series - England won one match off his back and are in with a shout in this one largely due to his contributions. Very few other parts of our lineup have performed to the necessary standard to justify winning Test Matches. We are back to having a lot of players who do good things and are basically decent enough, but we are a bit lacking in match winners outside of our own conditions I think. There's nothing new about that - it's been the case for England team for most of our history. Mainly because England has never really produced World Class match winning spinners; we produce truckloads of very good containing spinners of the Tredwell variety who can win games if the conditions are favourable to them. We don't produce spinners that are a threat across the board. Swann was almost unique in that respect. Windies have gone off well in this run chase. There's going to be big pressure on Root and Ali. It was an unnecessary comment from Graves but he's right. The West Indies have been a shambles and we should beat them. We've made things hard for ourselves by picking a middle order batsman instead of an opener and not picking a second spinner. If we don't win the series the chief selector should go and there will be a question mark hanging over the coach and captain too. They're both way too conservative in their outlook for my liking. Jordan has had a good 5 minutes mind!
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on May 3, 2015 16:05:05 GMT
just goes bad to worse for Trott,, LBW 9 and out ............11 - 1 Cook goes for 4...... 13 - 2 Bell, LBW, 0..... 18 - 3 !!!!! Root ,caught , 1......28 - 4 !!!! Moeen, bowled, 8.......39 - 5 oh dear oh dear 18 wickets in the day!!! early finish definite now, i I feel like we've been threatening to do something like this all series. We haven't really batted well and the Windies attack really isn't as bad as all that. A lot of it seems lack of application though I feel sorry for Trott who got a terrific delivery from Taylor. Very much game on here. We need another 100 I feel. The Windies must be fired up - a chance to ram those 'mediocre' comments down Colin Graves throat. They are mediocre, unfortunately so are too many of our players. They've bowled pretty well but this is test cricket. You expect that. We've given them too many soft wickets and we'd probably have bowled them out for 50 runs fewer had Moeen and Root bowled fewer pies. Very frustrating.
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on May 3, 2015 15:47:53 GMT
which felt pretty full - there was a segregated area empty behind the Tent End goal, but other than that I don't think I'd have wanted many more in the ground. It felt full, but not crammed - so OK with my Dad and my son in the standing
a great Gas buzz too. Happy days
It didn't feel completely full in the north terrace and there were definitely spaces in the centenary terrace towards the wing. Two people I know asked if they could buy two tickets from the ticket office just before kick off and they had no problem.
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on Apr 30, 2015 18:00:28 GMT
By what definition are 'FGR' sustainable? They're a rich man's vanity project, no better than Rubbish and Dustbins were. I mean from an environmental perspective rather than a business perspective. They're clearly bankrolled and are not unique in that sense but they have some nice ideas with regard to their green agenda.
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jackthegas
David Pritchard
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 313
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Post by jackthegas on Apr 30, 2015 8:33:24 GMT
I went in the home end with my FGR supporting friend and his Dad. I managed to keep my mouth shut when we scored. I didn't notice anyone else around me celebrating our goal but I was trying very hard to avoid emanating smugness.
I still think it would have made sense for them to give us more tickets. The relative paucity of tickets available to away fans added to the 1500 empty spaces always meant away fans would be in the home end which runs the risk of trouble breaking out.
I haven't been to an away match this season and I have to say it was a very surreal experience. It reminded me of watching Rovers play Yate in a preseason game a few years aga. I guess that's primarily because the area is familiar to me.
I liked their set up though. While I don't really agree with their owners decision to change their kit or their recruitment policy but I like the concept of a sustainable club with a big community presence. The ground was pretty tidy too and aspects of it felt more modern than ours.
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