That leaves just two or three slots for ten second-stringers, including Novartis, Bristol-Myers, AmericanHome Products (ahp), AstraZeneca and Pharmacia.

FORBES: Reviving Novartis

But top prospects like SportsLine are clearly getting lumped with third-stringers these days.

FORBES: Penalty box

Its 61 directorsall insidersare so numerous that the bank reportedly has to set up a "second-stringers' bench" to fit them all in.

FORBES: A setting sun?

News organisations have faced dramatically reduced budgets in recent years, with many cutting foreign bureaux and instead relying on stringers and freelances.

BBC: Lara Logan attack turns spotlight on female reporters

Its 61 directors all insiders are so numerous that the bank reportedly has to set up a "second-stringers' bench" to fit them all in.

FORBES: Setting sun

He said it was "disgraceful" that it took him, using stringers and freelance camera crews in Iraq, to bring such footage to the public.

BBC: Still from Fahrenheit 9/11

While stringers say he already has the lowest tension of any of the men in the top 10, stringers say he's gone down even more.

WSJ: Roger Federer: With Tennis Rackets, He Strings Them Loose

Stringers say Serena and Venus Williams along with Kim Clijsters are among the few top players left still playing with a full racket head of gut.

WSJ: Roger Federer: With Tennis Rackets, He Strings Them Loose

Intermedia figures record that 44 Pakistani journalists, mainly part-time stringers and freelancers, have been killed in the last five years (2009- Jan 2013), without any convictions of the perpetrators.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

Wing Ashton was the only player in the side who also started Saturday's 21-20 victory over Australia in Sydney, but the attacking impetus from that memorable triumph was certainly evident early on as the second-stringers made a whirlwind start.

BBC: New Zealand Maori 35-28 England