England's fury at Aussie leak

England's dismal Ashes tour of Australia took an embarrassing turn prior to the 4th Test in Melbourne when their carefully-prepared bowling plans fell into the hands of Australia's ABC Radio. The broadcaster claimed they had been e-mailed the plans by an un-named source and proceeded to read them out on air as Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds turned the screw during their extraordinary 279-run partnership.

The plan was prepared by England's team analyst, Mark Garaway, as part of a video presentation on each Australian batsman which the tourists study ahead of each Test. It is then posted on a board in the team's dressing room whence, according to the England claim, the document must have been taken - which version of events has been disputed by the Australian media who insist the plans were 'found' at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, before being forwarded to ABC radio, rather than handed in there and then. It is not clear why it was considered that the correct owner would have been a radio station.

Either way, the timing of the leak served to add further misery to England's embarrassing run and their coach, Duncan Fletcher, particularly as the plans for both Hayden and Symonds were quite patently not working as both men made multiple centuries.
However, with England subsequently making clear their annoyance at the security breach, the matter looks likely to stay in the headlines for some time.