You might not have been able to see through the enormous obstacle that is the World Cup, but the year's biggest professional tennis tournament has just concluded.
I have to confess to having not seen much of Wimbledon 2010 myself. Yet I saw enough to know that there were shocks, an infeasibly long match and unrecognisable Russians in the latter stages of the women's event. At the end the man who always wins took off with men's singles honours. No, not that man who always wins, the other man who always wins.
Neither of whom are Andy Murray. Britain's anti-hero succumbed to eventual champion (and man who always wins) Rafa Nadal in the semi-finals. Before that he had looked promising in taking apart a variety of no-hopers along with Jo-Wilfred Tsonga of France. None of his victories were greeted with much fanfare among the public, as the English masses continue to castigate the Scot for suggesting that he might not be in love with England some 17 years ago. What's really behind the anti-Murray feeling of course is the fact that he is uncomfortably close to being a winner. We'd all much rather laugh at Phil Tuffnell than take to our hearts a man who can honestly boast that there are only two men on the planet who consistently play better tennis than he does.
Those hoping for a Nadal-Federer final were left disappointed as the smarmy Swiss legend was beaten in the quarter-finals by Thomas Berdych. The previously unheralded Czech will jump to 11th in the world rankings as a result of his fine run, which included the four-set dismissal of Federer;
"I'm looking forward to a rest and then I'll attack again in North America" said Federer after the defeat, sounding a little too much like Kim-Yung-Il for anyone's liking.
Though he can add Novak Djokovic to his notable list of victims Berdych turned out to be no match for Nadal, who disposed of him in three sets with the minimum of fuss. The Spaniard dropped just 12 games in the final and finished it with the kind of cross-court forehand normally reserved for immortals. It was just that good. Even if you don't like tennis.
An interesting sub-plot to the men's event was the record-breaking first round encounter between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut. Astoundingly it took 11 hours and five minutes to separate these two, while the last of the five sets was longer than any other entire match in Grand Slam history. Eventually Isner came through 70-68 in the fifth, but was promptly dispatched in the second round in straight sets by Dutchman Thiemo De Bakker. This defeat occured only a day after the Mahut Marathon, and surely calls into question the wisdom of everyone involved with the tournament including the players. Quite why a fifth set cannot be decided by a tie-break is beyond my admittedly limited understanding of the game. For his part, Mahut was back on court later that same day, playing doubles with Arnaud Clement against British pair Colin Fleming and the brilliantly named Ken Skupski. The match was suspended after the first set (presumably because it was midnight by then) and Mahut and Clement eventually succumbed to defeat, much to the disgust of Clement.
To the women now and well, once Maria Sharapova was knocked out by Serena Williams (you know? the one who always wins? No, the other one who always wins) I have to admit to losing interest. This despite the rather interesting fact that three of the four semi-finalists were relative unknowns, with Vera Zvonoreva, Petra Kvitova and Tsvetana Pironkova joining Williams the younger at that stage. The latter had put out Venus Williams to get there. The final was over in just over an hour and was criminally devoid of Sharapova's incessant grunting. Victory over Zvonoreva brought Williams' fourth title, a ninth overall for the family.
Next up is the US Open in September, where we await Roger's terrible revenge.
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Monday, 28 June 2010
The England Debacle
Apologies for the change of url (if that's the correct geeky term) but as this is my sports blog I thought it a suitable place to vent my splenetic juices on the England football team.
Yesterday's embarrassing World Cup second round exit to Germany will be remembered as one of the more severe spankings that an England side has taken at a major international tournament. The usual hard luck stories, controversial red cards and skied penalties do not apply, as Fabio Capello's side slumped to a 4-1 thrashing. Yes, Frank Lampard had a perfectly good goal disallowed, but to blame our demise on that is to apply a generous amount of papering over some gargantuan cracks.
But why were we so bad? Common perception has it (i.e. anyone who works for Sky) that the English Premier League is the best in the world. It's top sides regularly appear in the latter stages of European club competition, with 2009/10 being the first season since 2003/04 that an English side did not appear in the Champions League final. Even the mid-table sides fare well, with a previously unheralded Fulham side going all the way to this season's ludicrously re-branded Europa League final.
Yet look a little deeper and the disparity between success at club and international level becomes clearer. Just eight of England's 23-man squad come from the so called 'Big Four' who have dominated the Champions League in recent years, and one of those is Michael Carrick! So sparse is our actual talent pool that Capello saw fit to recall the previously retired Jamie Carragher following an injury to Rio Ferdinand, and the Italian also narrowly failed to persuade Paul Scholes to follow Carragher back into the fold.
Carragher's recall seems all the more baffling when you consider that Capello preferred to select Ledley King for the tournament opener against the USA. Continued comparisons between King and former Manchester United alcoholic Paul McGrath are too absurd to comment on, with the only similarity seemingly the amount of knee injuries sustained since a week last Friday. At least McGrath can say he was pissed when he fell over. King is the most over-rated human being since Jeremy Clarkson, but he is not alone in this squad.
We've known for a while now that midfield duo Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have more of a rivalry than a partnership. They are about as likely a couple as Pete Doherty and Kate Moss, yet still Capello persists with the pair. Compounding this error is the selection of Gareth Barry, a man so coveted by such luminaries as Rafa Benitez and Mark Hughes, but who spent much of last season making Xabi Alonso look like Johann Cruyff. The miserable sight of him chasing back in vein prior to Germany's fourth goal is an image that will take some time to erase from the memory.
While Capello has made some errors in judgement (and we haven't even mentioned the introduction of goal-shy cart-horse Emile Heskey in place of Jermain Defoe when England needed three goals in 15 minutes to stay alive), the players themelves must take some responsibility. John Terry should be charged with deception following his lame impersonation of a world class central defender, but the real damage caused by the Chelsea man is that which follows his frequent and increasingly pointless media outbursts. The latest of these saw Terry lobbying for the inclusion of Joe Cole, an act which seemed to have the opposite effect on the notoriously stubborn Capello.
As for the rest of the defensive line Matthew Upson was simply out of his depth, while Glen Johnson has never been a defender. All of which leaves us with Ashley Cole who, while reasonably steady defensively, offered nothing in support of Gerrard in attack and hardly justifies his English media tag as the best left back in the world. What world? Not this one.
Further forward, Wayne Rooney is still missing, no doubt reeling from the power-sapping effect of having been told not to swear at anyone. It's yet another boring truism to suggest that Rooney is not the same player if he has to keep his mouth shut. He hears it so often from the media and the fans that it is little wonder that he actually believes it himself. The phrase 'self-fulfilling prophecy' springs to mind.
The cold, uncomfortable truth is that England are not even a miniscule percentage as good as they think they are. They have players who are plainly uncomfortable in possession of the ball, while there is also not enough pace in the team. James Milner crossed the ball well at times, but can no more run past a full-back than I can, while speedsters Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips have all the end product of a Liberal Democrat manifesto. If you can bear to watch the whole fiasco again, notice the way the England players' first thought in possession is to move the ball back or sideways. Posession is lost when the ball goes forward, sometimes quite intentionally it seems as Emile chases another long, lost cause.
Most right-thinking football followers have agreed over the last 24 hours that England were and are way off the mark, but the distressing thing is that nothing will change. The same people who are up in arms about the defeat will go back to fretting about their chosen club sides in a matter of weeks, and will soon be treating England matches as annoying pauses in the bread and butter that is their league season. As fans we only care for a few weeks every two years, so how can we expect the players to care any more than that? Wayne Rooney's complaints at being booed following the depressing Algeria draw show clearly how disillusioned some of our players are with playing for their country. He later apologised, but the outburst is a clear sign that club football will always be the priority.
Unlike many I don't think Capello should go just yet. I would give him until the next European Championships in 2012 to put things right. He could start by ridding the squad of some of it's superstars and instead work on giving younger, hungrier players an opportunity. Yet as this is a results based business this seems unlikely. A switch to an inexperienced line-up now may be for the greater good long term, but it would place qualification for Euro 2012 in jeopardy. Like it or not, the manager who fails to guide England to a major tournament finals does not remain in the job for very long. Witness Steve McClaren, sacked by England and labelled the Wally with the Brolly for missing out on Euro 2008, but a man with enough nous to subsequently win a championship in Holland before landing a job with former German champions Wolfsburg.
And so to the good news. Only 47 days to go until the start of the new Premier League season, when we can all forget about Germany and bury our heads once more in the sand about our status as a football super power.
Yesterday's embarrassing World Cup second round exit to Germany will be remembered as one of the more severe spankings that an England side has taken at a major international tournament. The usual hard luck stories, controversial red cards and skied penalties do not apply, as Fabio Capello's side slumped to a 4-1 thrashing. Yes, Frank Lampard had a perfectly good goal disallowed, but to blame our demise on that is to apply a generous amount of papering over some gargantuan cracks.
But why were we so bad? Common perception has it (i.e. anyone who works for Sky) that the English Premier League is the best in the world. It's top sides regularly appear in the latter stages of European club competition, with 2009/10 being the first season since 2003/04 that an English side did not appear in the Champions League final. Even the mid-table sides fare well, with a previously unheralded Fulham side going all the way to this season's ludicrously re-branded Europa League final.
Yet look a little deeper and the disparity between success at club and international level becomes clearer. Just eight of England's 23-man squad come from the so called 'Big Four' who have dominated the Champions League in recent years, and one of those is Michael Carrick! So sparse is our actual talent pool that Capello saw fit to recall the previously retired Jamie Carragher following an injury to Rio Ferdinand, and the Italian also narrowly failed to persuade Paul Scholes to follow Carragher back into the fold.
Carragher's recall seems all the more baffling when you consider that Capello preferred to select Ledley King for the tournament opener against the USA. Continued comparisons between King and former Manchester United alcoholic Paul McGrath are too absurd to comment on, with the only similarity seemingly the amount of knee injuries sustained since a week last Friday. At least McGrath can say he was pissed when he fell over. King is the most over-rated human being since Jeremy Clarkson, but he is not alone in this squad.
We've known for a while now that midfield duo Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have more of a rivalry than a partnership. They are about as likely a couple as Pete Doherty and Kate Moss, yet still Capello persists with the pair. Compounding this error is the selection of Gareth Barry, a man so coveted by such luminaries as Rafa Benitez and Mark Hughes, but who spent much of last season making Xabi Alonso look like Johann Cruyff. The miserable sight of him chasing back in vein prior to Germany's fourth goal is an image that will take some time to erase from the memory.
While Capello has made some errors in judgement (and we haven't even mentioned the introduction of goal-shy cart-horse Emile Heskey in place of Jermain Defoe when England needed three goals in 15 minutes to stay alive), the players themelves must take some responsibility. John Terry should be charged with deception following his lame impersonation of a world class central defender, but the real damage caused by the Chelsea man is that which follows his frequent and increasingly pointless media outbursts. The latest of these saw Terry lobbying for the inclusion of Joe Cole, an act which seemed to have the opposite effect on the notoriously stubborn Capello.
As for the rest of the defensive line Matthew Upson was simply out of his depth, while Glen Johnson has never been a defender. All of which leaves us with Ashley Cole who, while reasonably steady defensively, offered nothing in support of Gerrard in attack and hardly justifies his English media tag as the best left back in the world. What world? Not this one.
Further forward, Wayne Rooney is still missing, no doubt reeling from the power-sapping effect of having been told not to swear at anyone. It's yet another boring truism to suggest that Rooney is not the same player if he has to keep his mouth shut. He hears it so often from the media and the fans that it is little wonder that he actually believes it himself. The phrase 'self-fulfilling prophecy' springs to mind.
The cold, uncomfortable truth is that England are not even a miniscule percentage as good as they think they are. They have players who are plainly uncomfortable in possession of the ball, while there is also not enough pace in the team. James Milner crossed the ball well at times, but can no more run past a full-back than I can, while speedsters Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips have all the end product of a Liberal Democrat manifesto. If you can bear to watch the whole fiasco again, notice the way the England players' first thought in possession is to move the ball back or sideways. Posession is lost when the ball goes forward, sometimes quite intentionally it seems as Emile chases another long, lost cause.
Most right-thinking football followers have agreed over the last 24 hours that England were and are way off the mark, but the distressing thing is that nothing will change. The same people who are up in arms about the defeat will go back to fretting about their chosen club sides in a matter of weeks, and will soon be treating England matches as annoying pauses in the bread and butter that is their league season. As fans we only care for a few weeks every two years, so how can we expect the players to care any more than that? Wayne Rooney's complaints at being booed following the depressing Algeria draw show clearly how disillusioned some of our players are with playing for their country. He later apologised, but the outburst is a clear sign that club football will always be the priority.
Unlike many I don't think Capello should go just yet. I would give him until the next European Championships in 2012 to put things right. He could start by ridding the squad of some of it's superstars and instead work on giving younger, hungrier players an opportunity. Yet as this is a results based business this seems unlikely. A switch to an inexperienced line-up now may be for the greater good long term, but it would place qualification for Euro 2012 in jeopardy. Like it or not, the manager who fails to guide England to a major tournament finals does not remain in the job for very long. Witness Steve McClaren, sacked by England and labelled the Wally with the Brolly for missing out on Euro 2008, but a man with enough nous to subsequently win a championship in Holland before landing a job with former German champions Wolfsburg.
And so to the good news. Only 47 days to go until the start of the new Premier League season, when we can all forget about Germany and bury our heads once more in the sand about our status as a football super power.
Monday, 4 August 2008
KP's Nuts
Following on from the resignations of Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood as England's test and one-day captains yesterday, the ECB unveil Kevin Pietersen as successor to both.
The South African-born batsmen with the ex-pop star wife will also take over the running of England's Twenty20 side as the ECB go for consistency in all forms of the game. Oh, except for at wicket-keeper where Tim Ambrose stays in the squad for this Thursday's fourth test against the South Africans (but not Pietersen) at The Oval, but is replaced by Matt Prior in the one-day and Twenty20 squads. Confused? You will be.
With Vaughan out of the equation for now his place in the test squad goes to Essex's Ravi Bopara. Already a fixture in the one-day side, Bopara has been clearing the boundaries with ludicrous ease for Essex this season, and can also bowl a few overs here and there. Other than that it is an unchanged 13, with Stephen Harmison and Stuart Broad joining Bopara and the 10 who remain from the third test line-up.
While broadcasters everywhere nod their approval, they cannot help but add a note of caution on Pietersen's appointment. They fear that it will inhibit him as a batsmen, and that his performances and volume of runs might suffer as a consequence. Pietersen doesn't even deny that this is a possiblity (it would be hard to having seen it happen to Botham, Gower, Gatting, Hussain and now Vaughan), but instead just asks us to wait and see. Ok then, we will. In the meantime, let's just hope that Pietersen can inspire a little more adventure among the selectors, and finally put an end to the cosy Club England culture that has recently ruled.
On the field Middlesex continue to find ways to win one-day matches. They can only reach 203-9 in their Pro40 clash with Somerset at Lords, and owe their ability to get even that far to Owais Shah's magnificent 96 off 102 balls. Cue repeated discussion on Sky among Michael Atherton, Bob Willis, Paul Allot, Ian Ward and Graham Thorpe about why Shah was not given the nod for the test side ahead of Bopara. "You can't pick everyone." reasons Atherton.
In reply Somerset are abject. Former England batsmen Marcus Trescothick has always been the type to bludgeon his way to a few runs before needlessly getting out, and delivers again by miscuing one to Dawid Malan off the bowling of Tyron Henderson for 40. After that Somerset's goose was cooked as one-by-one they failed miserably to deal with the spin duo of Shaun Udal and Murali Khartik. Between them they took five wickets for 57 runs off 16 overs as the Sabres crumbled to a lamentable 160 all out.
Salford City Reds take the unusual step of publicly denying their interest in Paul Cooke. The former Hull stand-off has been left to sulk in the stands by Hull KR boss Justin Morgan, who cites issues with Cooke's lifestyle as the main factor. The presence of former Hull coach Shaun McRae at The Willows obviously fired the imagination of some local journalists, causing Football Director (or something) Steve Simms to dismiss any chance of Cooke joining the Reds. He did however drop a hint that Todd Carney, another man with a bad-boy reputation and a budding alcohol problem, could arrive after being ostracised from the NRL. Double standards? Nah.
The South African-born batsmen with the ex-pop star wife will also take over the running of England's Twenty20 side as the ECB go for consistency in all forms of the game. Oh, except for at wicket-keeper where Tim Ambrose stays in the squad for this Thursday's fourth test against the South Africans (but not Pietersen) at The Oval, but is replaced by Matt Prior in the one-day and Twenty20 squads. Confused? You will be.
With Vaughan out of the equation for now his place in the test squad goes to Essex's Ravi Bopara. Already a fixture in the one-day side, Bopara has been clearing the boundaries with ludicrous ease for Essex this season, and can also bowl a few overs here and there. Other than that it is an unchanged 13, with Stephen Harmison and Stuart Broad joining Bopara and the 10 who remain from the third test line-up.
While broadcasters everywhere nod their approval, they cannot help but add a note of caution on Pietersen's appointment. They fear that it will inhibit him as a batsmen, and that his performances and volume of runs might suffer as a consequence. Pietersen doesn't even deny that this is a possiblity (it would be hard to having seen it happen to Botham, Gower, Gatting, Hussain and now Vaughan), but instead just asks us to wait and see. Ok then, we will. In the meantime, let's just hope that Pietersen can inspire a little more adventure among the selectors, and finally put an end to the cosy Club England culture that has recently ruled.
On the field Middlesex continue to find ways to win one-day matches. They can only reach 203-9 in their Pro40 clash with Somerset at Lords, and owe their ability to get even that far to Owais Shah's magnificent 96 off 102 balls. Cue repeated discussion on Sky among Michael Atherton, Bob Willis, Paul Allot, Ian Ward and Graham Thorpe about why Shah was not given the nod for the test side ahead of Bopara. "You can't pick everyone." reasons Atherton.
In reply Somerset are abject. Former England batsmen Marcus Trescothick has always been the type to bludgeon his way to a few runs before needlessly getting out, and delivers again by miscuing one to Dawid Malan off the bowling of Tyron Henderson for 40. After that Somerset's goose was cooked as one-by-one they failed miserably to deal with the spin duo of Shaun Udal and Murali Khartik. Between them they took five wickets for 57 runs off 16 overs as the Sabres crumbled to a lamentable 160 all out.
Salford City Reds take the unusual step of publicly denying their interest in Paul Cooke. The former Hull stand-off has been left to sulk in the stands by Hull KR boss Justin Morgan, who cites issues with Cooke's lifestyle as the main factor. The presence of former Hull coach Shaun McRae at The Willows obviously fired the imagination of some local journalists, causing Football Director (or something) Steve Simms to dismiss any chance of Cooke joining the Reds. He did however drop a hint that Todd Carney, another man with a bad-boy reputation and a budding alcohol problem, could arrive after being ostracised from the NRL. Double standards? Nah.
Michael Gawn; Murray Mouths Off
Today should have been the fifth day of the third test at Edgbaston, but after England's five-wicket defeat wrapped up the series for South Africa with a game to spare, attention turned to the soon to be ex-England captain Michael Vaughan.
The ECB announced that they would make a statement at 1.00pm on Sunday, and from the moment they did so speculation began that Vaughan would resign the England captaincy. At the appointed time he tearfully did so, citing the effect on his private life as one of the major reasons for his decision. Soon after, it was learned that Paul Collingwood has also resigned the captaincy of the England one-day team, although cynical folks like me will suggest that he jumped before he was gently pushed. It seems the ECB have decided to have one captain for all forms of the game, and with Collingwood still unsure of his place in the side long-term (despite his heroic 135 at Edgbaston), he was never going to get the nod as test skipper. Reports suggest that Kevin Pietersen will.
So where did it all go wrong for Vaughan? The Yorkshire batsmen is rightly viewed as one of England's best ever captains having won more games than any of his predecessors, and been largely responsible for plotting the downfall of the Australians in that memorable Ashes series of 2005. Yet as a player he has struggled to justify his place in the team of late. A fine 100 in the first test of the summer against New Zealand has managed to lift his international average for the season above 26, but in the main his batting exploits have been poor. A series of failures with the bat have left fans, critics and probably the selectors wondering about Vaughan's place in the side, and so the man himself admitted it was time to go.
In doing so, he did however stress that he wished to carry on playing for England as a batsman, but would be taking a break from the game. This means he will not figure in the fourth test match due to start at The Oval on Thursday. It has to be doubtful whether he will be able to break back into the team at the age of 33, with a series of younger batsmen such as Ravi Bopara, Owais Shah and Graham Napier surely better options for the long-term future.
To better news about Brits now, as Andy Murray wins his first Masters Series event in Cincinnati. The Scot beat Novak Djokovic to rise to sixth in the world rankings, and immediately prepared the proverbial rod for his own back by going on about winning the Olympic Games tournament aswell as the US Open. You can't say that Murray has the kind of shyness and doubt in his ability which blighted the career of Tim Henman, but you have to wonder whether the 21-year-old might just be better off keeping his mouth closed about his future prospects until he has proved his worth at Grand Slam level.
Still, this tournament contained all of the world's best players including Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer. As such, Murray's achievement is a considerable one and offers genuine hope that one day soon, he might just be able to back up his seemingly premature claims to world domination in tennis.
Dominating at home if not on a worldwide scale are St.Helens. Daniel Anderson's side brush Wakefield Trinity Wildcats off easily, running out 42-10 winners at Belle Vue. The win gives Saints a two-point lead over Leeds Rhinos at the top of the Super League after the Headingley club were beaten 22-12 at Warrington on Saturday. Wakefield's defeat coupled with Harlequins' 36-24 win over Bradford Bulls means there is something of a jam around the play-off places, with just four points separating all of the Bulls, Wildcats, Harlequins and Hull KR, who surprised Catalans Dragons 30-16 on Friday night. In the weekend's dead rubber sponsored by Richard Lewis' Daft Idea To Abolish Relegation, Huddersfield Giants stuff Castleford Tigers 40-14.
The ECB announced that they would make a statement at 1.00pm on Sunday, and from the moment they did so speculation began that Vaughan would resign the England captaincy. At the appointed time he tearfully did so, citing the effect on his private life as one of the major reasons for his decision. Soon after, it was learned that Paul Collingwood has also resigned the captaincy of the England one-day team, although cynical folks like me will suggest that he jumped before he was gently pushed. It seems the ECB have decided to have one captain for all forms of the game, and with Collingwood still unsure of his place in the side long-term (despite his heroic 135 at Edgbaston), he was never going to get the nod as test skipper. Reports suggest that Kevin Pietersen will.
So where did it all go wrong for Vaughan? The Yorkshire batsmen is rightly viewed as one of England's best ever captains having won more games than any of his predecessors, and been largely responsible for plotting the downfall of the Australians in that memorable Ashes series of 2005. Yet as a player he has struggled to justify his place in the team of late. A fine 100 in the first test of the summer against New Zealand has managed to lift his international average for the season above 26, but in the main his batting exploits have been poor. A series of failures with the bat have left fans, critics and probably the selectors wondering about Vaughan's place in the side, and so the man himself admitted it was time to go.
In doing so, he did however stress that he wished to carry on playing for England as a batsman, but would be taking a break from the game. This means he will not figure in the fourth test match due to start at The Oval on Thursday. It has to be doubtful whether he will be able to break back into the team at the age of 33, with a series of younger batsmen such as Ravi Bopara, Owais Shah and Graham Napier surely better options for the long-term future.
To better news about Brits now, as Andy Murray wins his first Masters Series event in Cincinnati. The Scot beat Novak Djokovic to rise to sixth in the world rankings, and immediately prepared the proverbial rod for his own back by going on about winning the Olympic Games tournament aswell as the US Open. You can't say that Murray has the kind of shyness and doubt in his ability which blighted the career of Tim Henman, but you have to wonder whether the 21-year-old might just be better off keeping his mouth closed about his future prospects until he has proved his worth at Grand Slam level.
Still, this tournament contained all of the world's best players including Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer. As such, Murray's achievement is a considerable one and offers genuine hope that one day soon, he might just be able to back up his seemingly premature claims to world domination in tennis.
Dominating at home if not on a worldwide scale are St.Helens. Daniel Anderson's side brush Wakefield Trinity Wildcats off easily, running out 42-10 winners at Belle Vue. The win gives Saints a two-point lead over Leeds Rhinos at the top of the Super League after the Headingley club were beaten 22-12 at Warrington on Saturday. Wakefield's defeat coupled with Harlequins' 36-24 win over Bradford Bulls means there is something of a jam around the play-off places, with just four points separating all of the Bulls, Wildcats, Harlequins and Hull KR, who surprised Catalans Dragons 30-16 on Friday night. In the weekend's dead rubber sponsored by Richard Lewis' Daft Idea To Abolish Relegation, Huddersfield Giants stuff Castleford Tigers 40-14.
Smith Century Settles Series
Resuming on the fourth morning of the third test on 297-6 it was not long before England found themselves in more bother on what turned out to be a sour day for English cricket.
With just the second ball of the day Morne Morkel re-arranged Tim Ambrose's furniture for just 19, prompting the arrival of Ryan Sidebottom at the crease to join Friday's centurion Paul Collingwood. Sidebottom has not been at his best as a bowler but stuck around for a useful enough period with the bat, helping England reach 362-8 and a lead of 279. Yet that was about as good as it got, with James Anderson chopping on to his stumps for just one to gift Jacques Kallis his first wicket of the innings. With Monty Panesar the final man to join Collingwood, the Durham all-rounder decided that haste was required, but only succeed in edging Morkel behind and succumbing for a terrific 135.
All of which meant that South Africa needed 281 to win the match and the series. That they got there with five wickets to spare was down in the most part to a brilliant innings from South African skipper Graeme Smith. The 26-year-old former Somerset batsman helped himself to an unbeaten 154, pulling the winning runs through mid-wicket off the part-time spin of his old rival Kevin Pietersen.
Before all that, hope had been given to England by a series of lbw decisions. The first of those was handed to Neil Mckenzie who became the latest batsmen to fail to pick up Andrew Flintoff's yorker. His departure for 22 left the Proteas on 65-1, still 216 runs away from the finishing line. The next victim was Hashim Amla, falling to Monty Paneser with the score on 78, and when Kallis was hit on the thigh by a high full-toss from Flintoff it provoked an angry reaction from the South African all-rounder, and gave a scrap of belief to England's bowlers.
Smith needed someone to stay with him to take the side to victory, but it proved not to be Aswell Prince who was caught behind by Ambrose off the bowling of Anderson for only two. South Africa were not exactly reeling on 93-4, but they were experiencing something of a wobble. Last to go was AB De Villiers, caught by the resurgent Collingwood off Panesar for 27 to leave the score on 171-5. South Africa needed 110 with five wickets in hand, and in Mark Boucher found the man who would help Smith get his side over the line.
The wicket-keeper had made a useful 40 in his first innings knock, and added 45 in this one as England toiled, the belief visibly draining from their bodies with each passing over, each additional South African run. The victory put the tourists two up with one test match to play, completing their first series win in England since 1965.
With just the second ball of the day Morne Morkel re-arranged Tim Ambrose's furniture for just 19, prompting the arrival of Ryan Sidebottom at the crease to join Friday's centurion Paul Collingwood. Sidebottom has not been at his best as a bowler but stuck around for a useful enough period with the bat, helping England reach 362-8 and a lead of 279. Yet that was about as good as it got, with James Anderson chopping on to his stumps for just one to gift Jacques Kallis his first wicket of the innings. With Monty Panesar the final man to join Collingwood, the Durham all-rounder decided that haste was required, but only succeed in edging Morkel behind and succumbing for a terrific 135.
All of which meant that South Africa needed 281 to win the match and the series. That they got there with five wickets to spare was down in the most part to a brilliant innings from South African skipper Graeme Smith. The 26-year-old former Somerset batsman helped himself to an unbeaten 154, pulling the winning runs through mid-wicket off the part-time spin of his old rival Kevin Pietersen.
Before all that, hope had been given to England by a series of lbw decisions. The first of those was handed to Neil Mckenzie who became the latest batsmen to fail to pick up Andrew Flintoff's yorker. His departure for 22 left the Proteas on 65-1, still 216 runs away from the finishing line. The next victim was Hashim Amla, falling to Monty Paneser with the score on 78, and when Kallis was hit on the thigh by a high full-toss from Flintoff it provoked an angry reaction from the South African all-rounder, and gave a scrap of belief to England's bowlers.
Smith needed someone to stay with him to take the side to victory, but it proved not to be Aswell Prince who was caught behind by Ambrose off the bowling of Anderson for only two. South Africa were not exactly reeling on 93-4, but they were experiencing something of a wobble. Last to go was AB De Villiers, caught by the resurgent Collingwood off Panesar for 27 to leave the score on 171-5. South Africa needed 110 with five wickets in hand, and in Mark Boucher found the man who would help Smith get his side over the line.
The wicket-keeper had made a useful 40 in his first innings knock, and added 45 in this one as England toiled, the belief visibly draining from their bodies with each passing over, each additional South African run. The victory put the tourists two up with one test match to play, completing their first series win in England since 1965.
The Colly Comeback
This blog wasn't very complimentary about Ryan Sidebottom after the second day of the third test at Edgbaston. Yet it turns out that the ludicrouly-barneted Nottinghamshire seamer has a use after all.
With South Africa resuming on 256-6 and with a first innings lead of 25, it was Sidebottom who took the key wicket of Ashwell Prince. Prince has scored centuries in each of the first two test matches, but fell caught behind by Tim Ambrose off Sidebottom for 39. That left the Proteas on 264-7 and helped England restrict the tourists' first innings lead to 83.
Prince's departure brought Morne Morkel to the crease, but he was trapped lbw by James Anderson for 18 to leave South Africa on 293-8. Mark Boucher provided stout resistance but when Andre Nel was bowled by Sidebottom for a duck the veteran wicket-keeper batsman decided to lift the tempo, eventually skying one to Michael Vaughan for 40. South Africa ended their first knock on 314 all out.
Enter England's batsmen for the second time. It looked rather ominous when Alistair Cook inexplicably top-edged Makaya Ntini skywards for Boucher to run around and make the catch. At 15-1 the home side were in trouble, and it got worse when Vaughan produced another spectacular failure, caught at mid-off by Hashim Amla for 17 to leave England 39-2. The pendulum swung back towards England when Kevin Pietersen arrived at the crease after Vaughan's dismissal, but not before Andrew Strauss was caught at slip by Jaques Kallis off the bowling of Morkel for 25. Ian Bell could not recapture his first innings form, giving it away Cook-style as he wafted one high in the air on 20 for Boucher to gratefully accept.
Few had little faith in Paul Collingwood's ability to stay with Pietersen given his dramatic loss of form this summer, but they were wrong. The pair played magnificently to share a 115-run stand, but it all started to go wrong when Pietersen, not out on 94, decided to take the shortest route to his century. In attempting to whack Paul Harris out of Birmingham, Pietersen could only find AB De Villiers at mid-off. The South Africans had reduced England to 219-5 and could sense what a key scalp they had just taken.
Yet the loss of Pietersen did nothing to break the superhuman concentration of Collingwood, who shortly after saw Andrew Flintoff clip one to Amla for just two to leave England 221-6. Joined by Tim Ambrose at the crease Collingwood fought through the end of the day, showing Pietersen the way to bring up a century with a six into the bargain.
With South Africa resuming on 256-6 and with a first innings lead of 25, it was Sidebottom who took the key wicket of Ashwell Prince. Prince has scored centuries in each of the first two test matches, but fell caught behind by Tim Ambrose off Sidebottom for 39. That left the Proteas on 264-7 and helped England restrict the tourists' first innings lead to 83.
Prince's departure brought Morne Morkel to the crease, but he was trapped lbw by James Anderson for 18 to leave South Africa on 293-8. Mark Boucher provided stout resistance but when Andre Nel was bowled by Sidebottom for a duck the veteran wicket-keeper batsman decided to lift the tempo, eventually skying one to Michael Vaughan for 40. South Africa ended their first knock on 314 all out.
Enter England's batsmen for the second time. It looked rather ominous when Alistair Cook inexplicably top-edged Makaya Ntini skywards for Boucher to run around and make the catch. At 15-1 the home side were in trouble, and it got worse when Vaughan produced another spectacular failure, caught at mid-off by Hashim Amla for 17 to leave England 39-2. The pendulum swung back towards England when Kevin Pietersen arrived at the crease after Vaughan's dismissal, but not before Andrew Strauss was caught at slip by Jaques Kallis off the bowling of Morkel for 25. Ian Bell could not recapture his first innings form, giving it away Cook-style as he wafted one high in the air on 20 for Boucher to gratefully accept.
Few had little faith in Paul Collingwood's ability to stay with Pietersen given his dramatic loss of form this summer, but they were wrong. The pair played magnificently to share a 115-run stand, but it all started to go wrong when Pietersen, not out on 94, decided to take the shortest route to his century. In attempting to whack Paul Harris out of Birmingham, Pietersen could only find AB De Villiers at mid-off. The South Africans had reduced England to 219-5 and could sense what a key scalp they had just taken.
Yet the loss of Pietersen did nothing to break the superhuman concentration of Collingwood, who shortly after saw Andrew Flintoff clip one to Amla for just two to leave England 221-6. Joined by Tim Ambrose at the crease Collingwood fought through the end of the day, showing Pietersen the way to bring up a century with a six into the bargain.
Friday, 1 August 2008
Fearsome Freddie; Lennon In Limbo?
England fight back on the second day of the third test at Edgbaston. Only 65 overs are possible on a rain-affected day, at the end of which South Africa reach 256-6, a lead of just 25.
It could have been an awful lot worse. Having been skittled for 213 in their first innings England walked out into the field with South Africa looking strong on 38-1. For over an hour the frustration grew, but with the score on 94 night watchman Paul Harris was caught by Alistair Cook off the bowling of Ryan Sidebottom for a dogged 19.
There's something not right about Sidebottom at the moment. He's not playing all that well (a fact which could be mitigated by his recent back trouble) but yet he still feels entitled to stomp around shouting at team-mates at every opportunity. In particular he continually berates Monty Panesar for his fielding issues. Sidebottom would do well to respect his team-mates just a little more, and remember that but for the grace of God he could well have ended up like his father, a one-cap wonder at test match level.
Back to the game, Hashim Amla joined Neil McKenzie at the crease but lasted only nine balls before he was brilliantly caught and bowled by James Anderson. The Lancashire quick is becoming one of England's most destructive and key players. If he's not bravely scrapping his way to a score in the mid-thirties with the bat after being hit on the head, he's ripping into South Africa's batting order and throwing himself around in the field for the cause. Today's effort was at least his third spectacular catch of the series, and if England had ten fielders like him they may have more control of the series overall.
Amla's departure left the score on 117 for 3, and triggered the arrival of Jacques Kallis. Yet it was opening bat Neil McKenzie who went next, falling lbw to Andrew Flintoff for 72. It was Flintoff's 200th test wicket and sparked one of the better bowling performances of Freddie's recent career. It also left South Africa on 135 for 4, still 96 runs behind England's first innings total.
Another rain delay and a poor weather forecast threatened to call a halt to proceedings by tea, but after an hour and ten minutes the Edgbaston crowd were rewarded for their patience. In a dizzying hour of hard-nosed test cricket, Flintoff squared up to Kallis in a battle of wills between two of the world's top all-rounders. It was Flintoff calling most of the shots, but Kallis played solidly to pass 50 for the first time in the series. Perhaps the biggest moment of the day came when Kallis looked plum lbw to a fearsome Flintoff yorker. To the bewilderment of the crowd, the commentators and this television viewer umpire Aleem Dar gave Kallis not out, a decision which only served to fire Flintoff up still further.
Shortly after, the Lancashire all-rounder thundered in another mesmerising yorker which ripped Kallis' off-stump clean out of the ground. There was no doubt this time, with Kallis heading back to the pavillion having made 64, and pushed the overall score on to 226 for 5.
Flintoff was not finished there, continuing to steam in like a man possessed, and gained further reward when AB De Villiers hastily wafted a short ball straight up in the air towards the square leg boundary. Sidebottom gratefully accepted the gift, and at 238 for 6 South Africa held a lead of just seven. Eighteen more runs were added by Ashwell Prince and Mark Boucher by the close at around 6.30, giving the Proteas an overnight lead of 25 with four wickets in hand going into day three.
To football now and David Bentley completes a £17million switch from Blackburn Rovers to Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs fans seem to have had nothing but bad news recently, with Robbie Keane's move to Liverpool and constant innuendo regarding the future of Dimitar Berbatov. Bentley is a class act who should offer Spurs genuine creativity out wide or behind the strikers, and it helps when a player comes in ranting about how he has always wanted to play for his new club. One wonders whether they knew that about him when he was on Arsenal's books.
As Bentley arrives at White Hart Lane Steed Malbranque departs. Malbranque is buying into Roy Keane's attempts to make Sunderland the new Spurs, and is no doubt relishing the prospect of a mid-table finish.
Just one question about all of this. If Bentley plays down the right, what happens to Aaron Lennon? England's brightest young thing after the 2006 World Cup, Lennon is becoming the Premier League's forgotten man. Go on Rafa, have a gamble.
It could have been an awful lot worse. Having been skittled for 213 in their first innings England walked out into the field with South Africa looking strong on 38-1. For over an hour the frustration grew, but with the score on 94 night watchman Paul Harris was caught by Alistair Cook off the bowling of Ryan Sidebottom for a dogged 19.
There's something not right about Sidebottom at the moment. He's not playing all that well (a fact which could be mitigated by his recent back trouble) but yet he still feels entitled to stomp around shouting at team-mates at every opportunity. In particular he continually berates Monty Panesar for his fielding issues. Sidebottom would do well to respect his team-mates just a little more, and remember that but for the grace of God he could well have ended up like his father, a one-cap wonder at test match level.
Back to the game, Hashim Amla joined Neil McKenzie at the crease but lasted only nine balls before he was brilliantly caught and bowled by James Anderson. The Lancashire quick is becoming one of England's most destructive and key players. If he's not bravely scrapping his way to a score in the mid-thirties with the bat after being hit on the head, he's ripping into South Africa's batting order and throwing himself around in the field for the cause. Today's effort was at least his third spectacular catch of the series, and if England had ten fielders like him they may have more control of the series overall.
Amla's departure left the score on 117 for 3, and triggered the arrival of Jacques Kallis. Yet it was opening bat Neil McKenzie who went next, falling lbw to Andrew Flintoff for 72. It was Flintoff's 200th test wicket and sparked one of the better bowling performances of Freddie's recent career. It also left South Africa on 135 for 4, still 96 runs behind England's first innings total.
Another rain delay and a poor weather forecast threatened to call a halt to proceedings by tea, but after an hour and ten minutes the Edgbaston crowd were rewarded for their patience. In a dizzying hour of hard-nosed test cricket, Flintoff squared up to Kallis in a battle of wills between two of the world's top all-rounders. It was Flintoff calling most of the shots, but Kallis played solidly to pass 50 for the first time in the series. Perhaps the biggest moment of the day came when Kallis looked plum lbw to a fearsome Flintoff yorker. To the bewilderment of the crowd, the commentators and this television viewer umpire Aleem Dar gave Kallis not out, a decision which only served to fire Flintoff up still further.
Shortly after, the Lancashire all-rounder thundered in another mesmerising yorker which ripped Kallis' off-stump clean out of the ground. There was no doubt this time, with Kallis heading back to the pavillion having made 64, and pushed the overall score on to 226 for 5.
Flintoff was not finished there, continuing to steam in like a man possessed, and gained further reward when AB De Villiers hastily wafted a short ball straight up in the air towards the square leg boundary. Sidebottom gratefully accepted the gift, and at 238 for 6 South Africa held a lead of just seven. Eighteen more runs were added by Ashwell Prince and Mark Boucher by the close at around 6.30, giving the Proteas an overnight lead of 25 with four wickets in hand going into day three.
To football now and David Bentley completes a £17million switch from Blackburn Rovers to Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs fans seem to have had nothing but bad news recently, with Robbie Keane's move to Liverpool and constant innuendo regarding the future of Dimitar Berbatov. Bentley is a class act who should offer Spurs genuine creativity out wide or behind the strikers, and it helps when a player comes in ranting about how he has always wanted to play for his new club. One wonders whether they knew that about him when he was on Arsenal's books.
As Bentley arrives at White Hart Lane Steed Malbranque departs. Malbranque is buying into Roy Keane's attempts to make Sunderland the new Spurs, and is no doubt relishing the prospect of a mid-table finish.
Just one question about all of this. If Bentley plays down the right, what happens to Aaron Lennon? England's brightest young thing after the 2006 World Cup, Lennon is becoming the Premier League's forgotten man. Go on Rafa, have a gamble.
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