This weeks Ashes reporting consists mostly of messages, reminders and nudges. By now, the selectors know at least ten of the side which will take the field at Cardiff. The Daily Telegraph, for whom tales of Andrew Flintoff’s evening exploits are just so 2007, assume that each and every decent county performance will have Geoff Miller re-writing the team-sheet.

So, for the record, the following players have either “nudged” Geoff Miller in the kidneys, “reminded” Ashley Giles of their existence, or bombarded Andy Flower with “messages”:

Nudge – Liam Plunkett. In the absence of Harmison and Onions, Liam Plunkett has taken 6-63 (including 5 tail enders) against a Worcestershire lineup featuring the masterful batting of Gareth Batty at number 7. Durham’s Liam Plunkett takes six wickets to nudge England selectors said the Telegraph. (NB – exchange Liam Plunkett’s name for Kabir Ali, and you have the headline for tomorrow as well).

Message – Owais Shah. Owais Shah in capital form as he sends message to England’s Ashes squad sang the Telegraph. Shah scored 159 against division 2 Surrey.

Reminder – Steve Harmison. Apparantly, Steve Harmison sends a “reminder” to the selectors every morning, just to let them know that he has made it through the night unscathed. So today, the wicket of Philip Hughes has no doubt caused one of the biggest reminders in the history of Steve Harmison reminders. According to the report “Australia rattled by Steve Harmison” (from the Telegraph), he captured this wicket with a “vicious lifter” (read: it bounced a bit).

For the record, GoodCricketWicket gave Andrew Strauss a prod yesterday with a sweetly timed paddle-sweep performed during indoor nets in the lounge. We await our callup.