Today's the day that English cricket finally loses the plot.
Under pressure from to compete with the success of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 competition, the ECB announce hurriedly whipped-up plans for their own rival league. Apparently featuring all 18 current county sides, the new English Premier League (EPL, what imagination) will also include two overseas teams. The identity of these is yet to be determined, just one of many ludicrous flaws in the plan.
There's more. At a time when the great and good of the sport are worried about Twenty20 overkill, the ECB have decided that what we need is even more of the shortened form of the game. As such, a Twenty20 league competition will replace the Pro40 league currently played out during the second half of the season. The aim is to play matches on Friday nights, but should that happen I for one won't be watching as it clashes horribly with Super League.
Which brings me nicely on to the ramblings of Tony Rea and Mike 'Stevo' Stephenson on Boots'n'All this evening. The show was once a flagship for rugby league discussion shows but is now a badly rushed shadow of it's former self. First we get Rea proclaiming that despite a 68-12 thrashing of Castleford, St.Helens are not in the best of form and might find that easy victories in their last three games might 'soften them up' for the visit to Wigan this weekend. On the other hand, Leeds Rhinos' 46-8 victory over Huddersfield Giants suggests that they are bang in form, and woe betide anyone trying to stop them. Can anyone spot a slight inconsistency here? In addition, Rae then went on to lambast Wigan for not getting excited enough about scoring the first try in their abject 39-22 defeat at Hull KR. Rae is heading off to coach in rugby union at the end of this season, and although he does offer some good insight into the tactical nuances of the game, I for one will not miss his inimitable brand of contradictary conservatism.
And so to Stevo, who first of all annoyed half the rugby league public by proclaiming loudly that the decision to switch next year's 'Magic' weekend from Cardiff to Edinburgh is a masterstroke. Not satisfied with that, he then went on to suggest that some of the clubs currently in Super League will be worried about their status ahead of the announcement of the 14 'franchises' included in the competition for the next three seasons.
This is bunkum of the highest order. The 12 clubs currently in Super League will stay there, with two from Widnes, Salford, Leigh, Toulouse and Celtic Crusaders joining in the fun. Put your money on Widnes and Celtic Crusaders, and don't have any sleepless nights if you support Castleford, Wakefield or Hull KR who were all in jeopardy according to Stevo following a series of reports on their applications by Angela Powers.
To on-field matters and Yorkshire Cricket Club have descended into meltdown. Following their two-point deduction and subsequent elimination from the competition formally known as the Twenty20 Cup they are comprehensively beaten by Essex in their Pro40 opener. Batting first the Tykes are bowled out for just 157, a target reached by the Eagles with seven overs to spare. Essex and Kent are two of the best sides in one-day cricket this season, but due to the vagaries of the two-tier system both find themselves playing in division two of the 40-over game. Bad seasons are not permitted in one day cricket.
To football now and Alex Hleb finally leaves Arsenal for Barcelona. Joining up with former Gooner Thierry Henry, Hleb arrives at the Nou Camp for a fee of around £11.8million. Despite earning a reputation as a selling club, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger shrugs slightly at the news and vows to compete with the top two anyway.
One in, one out at Barca as Ronaldinho looks set to join AC Milan. Manchester City's audacious £25.5million bid appears to have failed, that despite suggestions that the Brazillian could have earned twice as much with Mark Hughes' side. Thank God, I was beginning to think that money was the only thing that mattered to footballers these days. Obviously there are still limits to what these overpaid who ponies will do to their professional aspirations for the sake of a few euros more.
I know you're dying to find out, so let me tell you that Cadel Evans still leads the Tour de France by one second from Frank Schleck after Norway's Kurt-Asle Arvesen wins the 12th stage from Lannemezan to Foix. Brits David Millar and Mark Cavendish are now in 50th and 156th place respectively.
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