tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71322173237975999722024-03-13T21:26:27.194+00:00Beyond Cow CornerSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-75301147280028277242012-08-09T13:30:00.000+01:002012-08-09T13:30:21.238+01:00Girls and Boys<i>Marginality score: 10/10</i><br />
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In what will probably be my last post of the Olympics (will be spending this weekend at family celebrations, rather than fuming over the marginalisation of some group or other), I want to look at the most marginal of marginal figures.<br />
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First off, an admission: I've used Caster Semenya. No, not like that; the above image has been a favourite starting-point of mine for introducing undergraduate classes to ideas about race and gender, usually in a book like Jackie Kay's brilliant novel, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trumpet-Jackie-Kay/dp/0330511823">Trumpet</a></i>:<br />
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(If you haven't read it, STOP READING THIS BLOGGING RUBBISH RIGHT NOW and go and get hold of a copy. Seriously.)<br />
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Semenya seems a lovely, down-to-earth, genuine (to use three fairly interchangeable adjectives) person. Oh, and the favourite for the WOMEN'S 800m. That's right, the women's race. Who cares if she has a bit more testosterone than the average woman? Michael Phelps has significantly bigger feet and lung capacity than the average man, but I don't see anyone accusing him of being part-fish.<br />
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Which leads me to my point: when people get irate about a perceived unfairness in sport, it's generally racially 'other' individuals who are taken to task. So this isn't a question about Semenya's gender, at all: it's an uneasiness (see <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Orientalism-Edward-W-Said/dp/039474067X">Edward Said</a>) rooted in her race.<br />
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As one final example, take a look at <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2002802/Martin-Samuel-London-2012-ruined-plastic-Brits.html">this</a> <i>Daily Mail</i> article on so-called 'plastic Brits', who switched nationality to join the GB team. Not entirely coincidentally, there's mention of any male, white athletes: all three 'examples' (and they are ridiculous, justifying those inverted commas: both Shana Cox's parents and one of Tiffany Ofill-Porter's are British) are, surprise-surprise, black women. Again, it all comes down to race.<br />
Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-59247872184957593592012-08-08T23:52:00.000+01:002012-08-09T00:00:30.393+01:00And Now, The End Is Near<i>Marginality score: 6/10</i><br />
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Over the past few days, I've been musing on age, the passing of the years, Time's wingèd chariot, and all that. But enough about missing deadlines and depressing conversations about years of birth; I'm talking about athletes on their (literal and metaphorical) last legs. In amongst the stellar performances from <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18916977">teenage <i>wunderkinds</i></a> <a href="http://www.interaksyon.com/interaktv/olympic-swimming-lithuanian-teens-win-caps-day-of-surprises-at-the-pool">in the pool</a>, and the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/athletics/9457545/London-2012-Olympics-Grenadas-Kirani-James-wins-mens-400-metres-final-to-end-USAs-dominance-in-the-event.html">sharing of gold and silver men's 400m medals</a> between two competitors with a combined age a year younger than the GB football team captain, there have been several examples of medals won at the other end of athletes' careers: Beth Tweddle (who, according to Louis Smith, is <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/9456119/Louis-Smith-Beth-Tweddle-is-getting-on-a-bit.html">'getting on a bit'</a> at the age of 27) <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18908349">taking bronze on the asymmetric bars</a>; Vicky Pendleton ending her career with two medals on the track, the last of which -- in the last race of her career -- was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18903420">a silver</a> behind the Australian <a href="http://beyondcowcorner.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/gender-trouble-or-why-some-areas-of.html">'cow'</a>; and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/aug/06/london-2012-olympics-showjumping">Nick Skelton leading the GB show jumping team to gold at the age of 54</a>. As Skelton admitted, he hadn't been particularly successful in his Olympic career, stretching back <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/aug/06/london-2012-olympics-showjumping">20 years</a>:<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">'I've waited a long time, been to a lot of Games, made a lot of mistakes, but you couldn't do it in a better place than London. This has to be my greatest moment. [...] </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">I said to the guys we needed to go out there and win it. I've waited 54 years for this, so you can certainly say it was a long time coming. I've had a few misses in my time, but finally we got there.'</span></span></blockquote>
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This, for me, is what the Olympics is all about: training, and waiting, and sacrificing, for a lifetime -- whether it's 27 years, or double that -- in order to be the absolute best. This is why these athletes keep going: not for the love of the sport, although that has to be a factor; not for the rush of competition, although again that particular shot of adrenaline probably helps; but because they truly believe they have the ability to be the best.<br />
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Over at <a href="http://thegoldenlatrine.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/winner-takes-it-all-is-second-place.html">The Golden Latrine</a>, there's a really interesting piece on what silver and bronze medals mean to those who miss out on gold. While I have to agree, however, that silver and bronze are 'a reward for exceptional performance, a reminder that you are among the best in the world at what you do', I can't help but feel that what makes an Olympian is the existence of a real belief in one's ability to remove that 'among' -- this is why Skelton, Tweddle, Pendleton, et al keep going.<br />
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In the end, the last word must go to (Sir? surely) <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/cycling/team-gbs-bradley-wiggins-says-medals-are-meaningless-unless-they-are-gold-8001096.html">Bradley Wiggins</a>:<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">'Once you have been an Olympic champion, you don’t talk about the other medals. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">If asked, I will normally say "I won three golds" because that’s the only colour that matters.'</span></span></blockquote>Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-42305587237736005102012-08-02T20:47:00.001+01:002012-08-02T20:47:43.053+01:00In Praise of the Overdogs<i>Marginality score: 0/10</i> (This is cheating a bit. Can you write a post on the marginality of the non-marginal?? Hmm.)<br />
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This is the shortest of short posts (at least one of you will be pleased to learn) on the fact that while watching an underdog can be fun, sometimes I do quite like watching an overwhelming favourite win. We've already had <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19072677">a bizarre interpretation of the Olympic spirit</a>, which has been deftly analysed <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/01/london-2012-chinese-badminton-players-medals">here</a>, among other places; seeing a plucky underdog doing his or her best sometimes reflects the 'Olympic dream', but isn't seeing a player or team at the top of their game what the pinnacle of sport should be all about? You can keep <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rqI8xwXVac">Eric the Eel</a> -- I'm off to watch Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte playing the swimming-pool equivalent of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzae_SqbmDE">duelling banjos</a>.<br />
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<br />Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-55301837381111322832012-07-31T00:42:00.000+01:002012-07-31T00:58:17.006+01:00Gender Trouble; or, Why Some Areas of International Sport Appear to Be a Bit Edwardian, Still<i>Marginality: 7/10 (I thought this topic was either incredibly marginal [up near 10], because the sidelining aspects of gender in sport are such troubling issues, or not at all, because these questions are so very mainstream. In the end, I wussed out and split the difference.)</i><br />
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Ninety-nine years ago this summer, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Davison">Emily Davison drew a definite and long-lasting link between gender and politics</a>. Not only was her protest set against the back-drop of a sporting event, it was fatally enmeshed in one; nearly a century later, however, it appears that Davison's sacrifice hasn't meant an awful lot. At least if the following three stories are anything to go by.<br />
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<u>(1) Zoe Smith</u><br />
I've got the news round-up on in the background, and they've just shown highlights from Zoe Smith's weightlifting. She's an articulate, intelligent, funny, self-deprecating, beautiful young woman. Does any of this matter in the context of her sporting achievements this afternoon? Not a jot. What matters is that, at the age of 18, she came <i>in the top twelve</i> <i>in the world</i> in her weight class. <b>There were only 11 women who did better than her, a full 10 years before her weightlifting peak.</b> Yet internet trolls are more inclined to focus on her <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/olympics/olympic-news/london-2012-olympics-weightlifter-zoe-smith-in-battle-with-internet-trolls-who-called-her-a-bloke-and-a-lesbian-7972951.html">looks</a> and her <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jan/15/zoe-smith-weightlifting-olympic-games">weight</a>. I know there's been criticism of Tom Daley since his perceived failure today, but none of that was related to his physique; in Smith's case, could it perchance be to do with her gender?<br />
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<u>(2) Japanese Football</u><br />
(H/T <a href="https://twitter.com/bengoldacre">@bengoldacre</a>) As I posted on Twitter a couple of days ago, the Japanese Football Association have a strange attitude to gender equality: <a href="http://www.themarysue.com/japanese-women-olympics/">while the men's football team travelled in first-class seats on the flight to the UK, the women's team travelled in economy</a>. This was in spite of the fact that <b>the women's team are ranked 3rd in the world, while the men's team barely scrape into the top 20</b>. Although the relative financial pulling powers of the two teams might have had something to do with this -- 'they attract more income, therefore they get more spent on them', sort of thing -- behind every financial decision is a political one: <i>why</i> do the male players, inferior to their female counterparts in terms of skill, attract more money? Until we start to address these sorts of underlying questions, the vicious circle (men are seen as better than women => they are favoured more => they have more spent on them => they are seen as better than women) will keep on turning.<br />
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<u>(3) Victoria Pendleton</u><br />
Yesterday, a press conference with Victoria Pendleton that focused on the rivalry between the British cyclist and the Australian Anna Meares kicked off with the frankly astonishing question 'is Anna Meares a cow?':<br />
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On Five Live, one of the journalists very astutely commented that she doubted a similar question would be asked of a male athlete, switching 'cow' for 'sod' (I suspect she would have used something stronger in a less public-broadcasting context). This got me thinking: why is this, and what does it imply about media attitudes to sportspeople? Put simply, this question demotes women: <b>instead of competitors, they are petty bitches; instead of sportspeople, they are political-correctness-gorn-mad glorified housewives</b>. And until these sort of attitudes start to change, we're all going to be the worse for it: women, men, athletes, and soundbite-hungry, morally defunct journalists alike.Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-18783342796571295972012-07-29T17:18:00.000+01:002012-07-29T17:18:54.035+01:00'Everybody hates us -- we don't care'<i>Marginality score: 6/10 (This scoring will be a regular thing, as I give my highly objective tariff for the relative marginal status of each of the sports/competitors I blog about. Because everyone likes ratings, right? Or maybe it's just stats geeks like me.)</i><br />
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Everyone's favourite angry Manxman gave a couple of interesting responses when being interviewed after his second consecutive failure to win Olympic cycling gold. One was a delightfully ranty answer to an unwelcome question about the after-effects of the Tour de France on his performance in London:<br />
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The other was a much more introspective, sombre sequence; according to Sad Cavendish (let's call him Mark Mark I), the failure of the British team was down to the lack of help they got from other national teams:<br />
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For those of you not familiar with the ins and outs of cycling road racing (so that's the more sane 98% of the population), a word about team tactics: in a stage race like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France">Tour de France</a>, success on any one day is not a very big issue; overall time -- the General Classification -- is key, so there's little point in busting a gut to finish as high as possible on any one day. Bradley Wiggins, this year's TdF winner, <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1267958-tour-de-france-2012-winner-recapping-bradley-wiggins-race-to-finish">only won two stages</a> out of 20, but consistently finishing in the top 20 or so was enough for him to win by a margin of nearly 3-and-a-half minutes. Often, a breakaway of 6-10 riders will escape the pack (peloton) and one of those will win the stage; unless someone who's high up in the overall standings joins one of these breakaways, the rest of the riders -- who are divided into teams of 9 -- won't bother chasing them down.<br />
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In a one-off race, however (the Olympic road race, for instance), there are two major differences. First of all, overall position <i>does</i> matter (whatever your gym teacher told you -- try telling someone like Steve Redgrave that it's 'the taking part that counts'), and secondly, the teams are much smaller -- 4, rather than 9. So when a breakaway gets away from the field, reeling it in is both more important than in a longer race (as if the breakaway isn't caught, those in the peloton won't get medals) and more difficult (more riders on a team = more bodies to spare chasing down escapees = an easier ride for the team favourite [in France, Wiggins; in London, Cav]).<br />
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To return to the first interview, with Angry Cavendish (Mark Mark II), the interviewer may have had a point, although it might have been a bit galling for AC to hear that the media and supporters might have thought his month in France had a part to play in his failure. Perhaps the members of the British team, 3 of whom took part in this year's TdF (Cavendish, Wiggins, and David Millar), were still in 'stage race mode': when they realised that a breakaway was forming ahead of the peloton, maybe there was a collective assumption that this wasn't such a problem. 'Tour de France fatigue', in other words, might take various forms.Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-38463758409317993692012-07-22T23:58:00.000+01:002012-07-22T23:58:57.036+01:00Torch, Torch, Run with TorchMy first post of a marginal nature concerns the sideshow of lighting the Olympic flame. This can be the most beautiful of moments (think of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmzr3tZSHxU">Mohammed Ali in 1996</a>), but it's usually a bit of a pointless exercise (the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mark_(athlete)">22-year-old virtual unknown John Mark in 1948</a> springs to mind). So when Daley Thompson and Steve Redgrave (sorry, Sir SR) have a <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/9414308/London-2012-Olympics-Daley-Thompson-ignites-row-with-Sir-Steve-Redgrave-over-Olympic-flame.html">slightly undignified spat</a> about which of them should light the Olympic cauldron this year, it feels ridiculous precisely because it's often such a meaningless accolade.<br />
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That's not the only reason it's mildly annoying, though: it also feels a little like two 6-year-olds arguing over the ownership of a toy car. So while I'm secretly a bit of a Redgave-ite (five golds! in different Olympics!!), I say screw the Seb-Coe-befriending and other politicking, and let's give it to neither of them. Here are a few ideas, with their Olympic credentials (Redgrave and Thompson's records included for the purposes of comparison):<br />
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Sir Steve Redgrave: 5 Olympic Titles, 9 World Titles, 0 World Records<br />
Daley Thompson: 2 OT, 1 WT, 4 WR<br />
Matthew Pinsent: 4 OT, 10 WT, 1 WR*<br />
Dame Kelly Holmes: 2 OT, 0 WT, 0 WR<br />
Ben Ainslie: 3 OT, 11 WT, 0 WR<br />
<b>Sir Chris Hoy: 4 OT, 11 WT, 2 WR</b><br />
Sally Gunnell: 1 OT, 1 WT, 1 WR<br />
Linford Christie: 1 OT, 1 WT, 4 WR**<br />
Sir Roger Bannister: 0 OT, 0 WT, 1 WR<br />
Paula Radcliffe: 0 OT, 4 WT, 3 WR<br />
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* Pinsent once held the WR for the largest lung capacity of a sportsman, at 8.5 litres. Thank you, Wikipedia...<br />
** Christie's 4 WRs include 3 in the 35--39 masters age group.<br />
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It looks like the Torch-bearer should be another knighted individual sportsman, then. Put <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxy4Gs2bu_c">your Bran Flakes</a> down, Sir Chris: you've got some lighting to do. (Honourable mention to Ben Ainslie, though: who knew he was that successful?)Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-27021978354679288652012-07-22T22:50:00.002+01:002012-07-22T22:50:46.948+01:00BCC Redux: Marginal OlympicsSo, 'Beyond Cow Corner' is back, in time for the Olympics. But every man, woman, and canine will be writing about sport over the next few weeks -- how was I going to be different? I mused, somewhat melodramatically. Luckily, I was saved from drowning in rhetoric by my other half, who suggested I take a look at the events from a marginal perspective: niche sports, sidelined nationalities, liminal athletes, etc. (Ok, that wasn't a real 'etc.' -- I'd run out of both suitable nouns, and synonyms for 'marginal'.) All comments, criticisms, lavish praise, and suggestions of topics for future topics welcome. <div>
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(First up, I go for the important issues: who should be carrying the Olympic torch?)</div>Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-61242522171222670432012-01-28T12:09:00.003+00:002012-01-28T13:01:45.145+00:00A Damp SquibIt should have been an amazing weekend of sport. Final stages of the Aussie open tennis; Liverpool--ManU and QPR--Chelsea in the FA Cup, among many other football ties; latter part of an evenly balanced Pakistan--England Test in Abu Dhabi; David Gourlay on the brink of his second World Indoor Bowls title, after a gap of 16 years...(Ok, not the last one. I'm not <i>that</i> much of a sports fan.)<div><br /></div><div>In a way, it was shaping up pretty well. Andy Murray may have <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/16754298.stm">gone down in five sets to Novak Djokovic</a>, but it was definitely a case of the World #1 winning the game, rather than the World #4 losing it: Murray's performance was up there with <a href="http://theclassicmatch.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html">Sampras in 1994</a>, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/in_depth/2001/wimbledon_2001/1429418.stm">Ivanišević in 2001</a>, and <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/7490443.stm">both Nadal and Federer in 2008</a>. The camera spent quite a while lingering on the figure in the crowd who has given his name to this arena, but even the great Rod Laver at his peak would have had trouble keeping up with either Murray or Djokovic. Mainly, perhaps, it would have been a question of physical stature: with the 6'2" Serbian whipping forehands across the gigantic wingspan of the 6'3" Scot, it's debatable whether or not the 5'8" Australian would have been able to reach some of their shots.</div><div><br /></div><div>Football, too, was living up to the hype. On Friday night, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/fa-cup/9045602/Watford-0-Tottenham-Hotspur-1-match-report.html">Tottenham were very nearly held by a spirited Watford</a>, while Fulham and Everton played out a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16644382.stm">classic gritty English cup tie, with Everton coming from behind to scrape through</a>. Saturday, meanwhile, was rather dominated by events on-and-yet-off the field, with <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/16664272.stm">London's racism derby</a> kicking off 45 minutes before <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/16664185.stm">a similarly politicised clash in the Northwest</a>. (Incidentally, I thought the FA's decision to cancel the QPR--Chelsea team handshakes -- no doubt because they suspected Anton Ferdinand would refuse to acknowledge John Terry -- while a sensible one from the point of view of not stoking the flames of fan/player conflict, was an unsatisfactory one. If I were Anton Ferdinand, having been [ALLEGEDLY] abused by an opposition player, I would want to have the chance to voice -- even if through the absence of a physical gesture -- my anger with said individual; it doesn't seem particularly fair to him to deny him that opportunity.)</div><div><br /></div><div>It was left to the cricketers, then, to provide the only real dose of shock/embarrassment/shame/whatever of the weekend. Limited to 257 by an outstanding team display from Broad/Anderson/Swann, Pakistan were then frustrated by the resilience of the same Stuart Broad, who contributed a gutsy 58 to an England total of 70 more than Pakistan. It was then the chance of the second spinner to shine, as Monty got in on the act: 6-62, and the opposition were dismissed for a mere 214. </div><div><br /></div><div>145 to knock off, then: easy.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan-v-england-2012/engine/current/match/531629.html">Or not.</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Mainly, I feel sorry for Stuart Broad and Monty Panesar. Broad had outstanding match figures (before the lost-cause last innings) of 44-13-83-5 and 58*; Monty's bowling numbers were 71.2-27-153-7; yet they end up on the wrong side of a frankly embarrassing defeat.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you're Pakistani, I guess the sporting weekend's a pretty good one -- but I can't help dwelling on the fact that the England batting line-up appears to have had <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/352661.html">Kingston 2009</a> hallucinations: like 'Nam flashbacks, only marginally less serious.</div>Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-29347321831067439912011-07-17T17:04:00.005+01:002011-07-18T13:30:21.834+01:00Grandstand<blockquote></blockquote><br /><p>I'm aware I've been somewhat remiss in keeping this blog updated, of late. This has mainly been due to pesky thesis-related stuff, but also my occasional presence <a href="https://gainedknowledge.wordpress.com/">here</a>; at some point I'm going to work out how to consolidate the two, given that reconciling the sport-loving and academic sides of my character was rather the point of this blog. </p><br /><p>Anyway, to make up for lost attentiveness, here's a post that attempts to cover all bases in the various worlds of sport at the moment (<i>a la</i> Des Lynam, <i>circa </i>1990).<br /><br /><br /><u>Golf</u><br /><br />I know, I know: starting a sports round-up with something that -- physically speaking, for the most part -- is barely more than a pastime may be controversial. But the first prize on offer to the winner at Sandwich this afternoon -- which looks like being the lovably rotund figure of Darren Clarke [insert Sandwich-related joke here] -- is close to £1M, so it's a fairly big occasion, regardless. </p><br /><p>The sport/game debate is one for another day, though. What I want to mention is an extraordinary attitude from one Rory McProdigy, speaking after his less-than-stellar weekend came to a close earlier today. </p><br /><p>(NB: 'Links golf', for those of you as in the dark about this as I was until about 90 minutes ago, refers to golf played on a 'links' -- a course situated on or very near to a coast, so named because it was a region 'linking' land and sea, and thus famous for blustery conditions, a dearth of trees, and fairly hostile scrubland environments.) </p><br /><p>In an interview shortly after stepping off the 18th -- and subsequently <a href="http://www.rte.ie/sport/golf/2011/0717/openday3.html">reported in online feeds</a> -- the talented young golfer McIlroy's reaction to his relative failure was given as follows: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 19px"><span class="Apple-style-span"></p><br /><blockquote><br /><blockquote>'He is <strong style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: normal">not going to change his game to suit the links</strong> as he only plays one week a year. He also believes he can win The Open, he just needs to wait for a year that the weather is good.'</blockquote></span></span></blockquote><br /><p>Can you imagine Roger Federer, say, deciding there was no point practising his clay-court game, because Roland Garros only comes round once a year? Surely, if your aim is to be the best in the world -- as is the case, presumably, for all top professionals in sport -- then you don't just shrug your shoulders and say 'well, I don't play in conditions like that'? </p><br /><p>To switch ill-advised cross-sporting metaphors, McIlroy cannot be serious. </p><br /><p></p><br /><p><u>Cycling</u><br /><br />No question: <i>this</i> is a proper sport. The 98th annual Tour de France comes to an end this week, after a gruelling contest that some have likened to having to run a marathon every day for 3 weeks. </p><br /><p>More than stamina is required, though: at the end of last week, a careless bit of driving on the part of someone in charge of a TV car led to a multi-bike pile-up (clip a tree with my wing-mirror? no, I'd rather endanger the lives of half-a-dozen flimsily-protected, lycra-clad human beings, thanks). The most serious casualty was Johnny Hoogerland, who was flipped off his bike, over a hedge, and onto a barbed-wire fence. </p><br /><p>Never mind: he was helped off said fence, climbed back into the saddle, finished the stage, and only <i>then</i> sought medical help. Whereupon he was promptly taken to hospital <i>for 33 stiches</i>. </p><br /><p>A certain Northern Irishman might like to watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mSeyzce-aw">this video</a> and take a few notes about commitment to one's sport...<br /></p><br /><p><br /><u>Rugby Union</u><br /><br />It was announced this week that the New Zealand RFU had taken significant umbrage with an English RFU decision to send the England rugby union team out in black shirts in a couple of games this summer, to prevent colour clashes with other teams. </p><br /><p>Here are the thoughts of one irate Kiwi: </p><br /><blockquote>'The Poms are trying to steal our heritage by having their rugby team swap to an all black strip. Not acceptable to us real All Black fans. Poms will not be welcomed in NZ for the RWC2011.'</blockquote><br /><p>Hmmm. Why such a fuss over a shirt colour? 'Heritage'? Really?? It's not like the England team have decided to choreograph their own version of the haka. (Suggestions on a postcard for what that would look like...) </p><br /><p>In any case, there have numerous stories over the years suggesting that the tradition of an 'all black' moniker may have rather prosaic origins, with <a href="http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/all-blacks/1">a printer's error</a> the most likely reason for the team's name. Furthermore, the all black colouring may have even been adopted after seeing an all-black strip worn by a home team on an early-twentieth-century overseas tour. The location? South-west England.<br /><br /><u></u></p><br /><p><u>Cricket</u><br /><br />Finally, it's back on home turf for this blog. This Thursday sees the start of the 2000th ever Test match, and England's 991st, at Lord's, against India. </p><br /><p>If England can beat India by a margin of two in this series, they'll go top of the ICC Test rankings. (Incidentally, <a href="http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/match_zone/test_predictor.php">this ICC ranking predictor</a> is a lot of fun...) It's one enormous if, though -- bigger than either Rory McIlroy's ego or Darren Clarke's stomach (which now, along with its owner, is busy <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/14178214.stm">hoisting the claret jug</a>). So what's it going to take? </p><br /><p>Here's a player-by-player face-off, with ratings, for the likely XIs to take the field on Thursday; the Indian XI, as a result of my appalling knowledge of Indian cricket at present, is the same <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-india-2011/engine/match/492536.html">team who lined up against Somerset this week</a> (plus Dhoni, of course).</p><br /><ol><br /><li><b>Strauss </b>(assured captain; not in great form with the bat, but will have taken heart from a fluent 78 this week: 7/10) v <b>Mukund </b>(talented young opener; as yet unproven on English wickets: 6)</li><br /><br /><li><b>Cook </b>(back in the longer form after a more-or-less-successful stint as ODI captain; behind Ian Bell in the 'most technically gifted batsman in the England team' stakes, but not by much; <strong>apologies for forgetting his phenomenal Ashes series, which means that he's of course worthy of an</strong>: 8) v <b>Gambhir </b>(no spring chicken at just shy of 30, but a whippersnapper compared to Tendulkar, Dravid, and Khan; devastating opener: 8)</li><br /><br /><li><b>Trott </b>(understated yet phenomenally successful, England's tower of strength; perfectly at home on English wickets: given the context, 9) v <b>Dravid </b>(over 12000 Test runs, averaging over 50; need I say more? 9)</li><br /><br /><li><b>Pietersen </b>(always flattering to deceive; he should really be a 10/10 showman, but he's too often a bit of a flop; I really hope he proves me wrong, but on current form: 5) v <b>Tendulkar</b> (The Little Master; I'm not sure you'd get particularly good odds against him scoring his hundredth hundred at Lord's this week: 10)</li><br /><br /><li><b>Morgan </b>(rising star; hard-hitting, takes no prisoners, and spares KP's blushes as much as the supposed superstar's predecessor in the order: 8) v <b>Yuvraj </b>(not as young as he once was, but who is on the Indian team? when on form, no one can touch him; if Jimmy can get under his skin, though, he's often a damp squib: 6)</li><br /><br /><li><b>Bell </b>(supremely gifted technical batsman, settling in at #6 after some ill-advised moves up the order [the fault of selectors rather than Bell himself]; still not a crowd favourite -- can he change that this summer? 8) v Raina (off the back of a 150-ball hundred against Somerset, so in fine form; India will welcome his sharp fielding in the circle: 7)</li><br /><br /><li><b>Prior </b>(his 'keeping is unremarkable: Hallelujah for that; some fine attacking batting, too: 7) v <b>Dhoni </b>(this one-on-one should really be against Strauss, but no matter; great batting, 'keeping, and captaincy: 9)</li><br /><br /><li><b>Broad </b>(ok, so this may be Bresnan, but I reckon the Andies will go for Broad's greater menace; promised much, but yet to really live up to that with both bat and ball; some shoddy form of late, too: 6) v <b>Zaheer </b>(might well be KP's downfall, given his southpaw-ness; could be the undoing of quite a few England batsman, with his prodigious swing and control: 8)</li><br /><br /><li><b>Swann</b> (Strauss's go-to man; now the most potent spinner in world cricket; if he's on song, so are England: 9) v <b>Mishra/Harbajhan</b> (unsure which spinner India will go with; the older man's influence in Test matches may be waning, but then Mishra had a fairly unsuccessful time against Somerset last time out: 6)</li><br /><br /><li><b>Anderson </b>(leader of the pack; on his day, in English conditions, completely unplayable: 8) v <b>Sreesanth </b>(a bit of an enigma, both <a href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-10-13/top-stories/28077635_1_final-warning-s-sreesanth-kerala-cricket-association">on and off the field</a>: 7)</li><br /><br /><li><b>Tremlett </b>(in and out of the England set-up in recent years, but more of a fixture now; a dependable back-up to the swing of Anderson and bounce of Broad; a few more spells like <a href="http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/9091669.Tremlett_takes_six_wickets_on_Rose_Bowl_return/">his stint at the Rose Bowl</a>, and he'll undoubtedly move up: 6) v <b>Patel</b> (often injured, and something of an unknown quantity in English conditions: 6)</li></ol><b>TOTALS: England (81) v India (82)</b><br /><br />So pretty close, then...(Promise I didn't fiddle those!) I think it's a case of heart saying England and head saying India. I might overrule my head, though -- overrated -- and stick my neck out (there's a strange compound mental image): 2-1, England.Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-40114471513869326272011-05-30T19:10:00.006+01:002011-05-31T09:52:42.352+01:00Hold Your HorsesI feel a bit fraudulent writing about <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/13593906.stm">the second astonishing denouement to a Cardiff Test inside two years</a>: after paying scant attention, during a busy week for me, to a weather-affected match (nearly a day and a half lost to rain) that appeared to be petering out into a draw, I'd given up on the match by the end of Saturday; by yesterday evening, I'd basically forgotten it was still going on. (And it seemed like <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport/hi/english/static/cricket/statistics/scorecards/2011/05/86074/html/scorecard.stm">everyone other than Jonathan Trott</a> had, too.)<br /><br />It was only a couple of excited text messages, late this afternoon, that persuaded me to tune in again and witness the carnage. By that time, it was basically all over: Sri Lanka had lost 6 wickets in 39 balls for only 19 runs.<br /><br />I did start listening in time to hear Ian Bell assume the Paul Collingwood Blinding Infield Catching mantle, to feel slightly sorry for both Tremlett and Swann that Broad came in at the end to clear up the tail and deny either a 5-for, and to hear a fairly unbelievable suggestion from the otherwise-quite-level-headed CMJ: was this performance a sign that England were about to take their rightful place as No. 1 Test side in world cricket?<br /><br />Really, Christopher.<br /><br />Firstly, there's the small matter of 2 further Tests to play against a Sri Lankan side who put together a not inconsiderable first-innings total of 400, not to mention a series against the current No. 1 side, India -- a team with 3 batsmen and 2 bowlers (fairly evenly matched against England's 2 and 3) in the <a href="http://www.relianceiccrankings.com/">ICC Player Rankings Top 10</a>.<br /><br />And secondly, it ignores the fact that, apart from extraordinary performances from Tremlett and Swann on the final day, the team effort so far has been no more than par for the course. (Switching sports, there -- as I did in the title of this post -- but it's a Bank Holiday, and I can't be bothered to come up with a better/less clichéd metaphor -- sorry...)<br /><br />Ok, there were three centuries, but they were made under very little pressure. Of more concern to the England coaching set-up might be the mis-fires from the two mainstays of the batting line-up, Strauss and KP. (I admit that, having not followed the match particularly closely, this judgement may be unduly harsh on my part. Do statistics really lie, though?)<br /><br />More worryingly, amid talk of 4-or-5-man bowling attacks, England went into the last innings with an attack of 3. (No, Trott and KP don't count.) If they'd faced opposition from a less rabbit-in-the-headlights batting line-up, there might have been rather more treatment along the lines of Tremlett's final over, which was deposited for 12 fairly easy runs by the 22-year-old debutant Thisara Perera.<br /><br />So yes, this was a brilliant result; no, it's not time for the champagne yet. Here's my 3-point to do list for Team England before the Lord's Test gets underway later this week:<br /><br /><br />1. <b>Balance the bowling attack:</b> make sure that whoever comes in for the injured Jimmy Anderson provides an alternative to the options already available. (Sorry, Steve Finn.)<br /><br />2. <b>Consider adding a bowling option:</b> it seems unfair to consign Eoin Morgan to the Test dustbin after scoring 14 not out; but then I wouldn't have picked him in the first place. Ravi Bopara provides a better 5th bowling option than the buffet fare of either Trott or KP, and his selection would also pay him back for his laudable <a href="http://blogs.bettor.com/England-batsman-Ravi-Bopara-says-he-prefers-county-cricket-over-Indian-Premier-League-a62087">decision to choose county cricket over the riches on offer in the IPL</a>.<br /><br />3. <b>Have a chat with KP:</b> shouldn't he be on a final warning by now? (Watch out for a match-winning 158* at Lord's, now...)Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-39276950888069368462011-05-12T18:50:00.000+01:002011-05-13T14:10:44.155+01:00Lucky Number NineteenAnd so it's all over, <a href="http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/30102010/2/photo/wolverhampton-wanderers-manager-mccarthy-shouts-instructions-team-during-english-premi.html">bar the shouting</a>.<div><br /></div><div>Unless Blackburn pull out a surprising win over Manchester United on Saturday lunchtime (and it's <a href="http://www.aboutmanutd.com/man-u-matches/01-02-2006-blackburn-rovers.html">over 5 years since United last failed to secure at least a point at Ewood Park</a>), Sir Alex Ferguson will have guided United past Liverpool to a record 19th English league title.*<div><br /></div><div>The expected 19-18 scoreline, however, is somewhat misleading. The first of Liverpool's 18 came in the 1900-01 season, and their most recent was in 1989-90, in the year after the Hillsborough disaster; United's started 7 years later than Pool's, in 1907-08, and their 18th was in 2008-09. While the chronological spread isn't so very different -- 89 years vs. (to date) 101 -- there is one fact that marks the two achievements as qualitatively different: United won 7 of their titles before the 1992 start of the English Premier League, and 11 have come since.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Traditions, as <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=sfvnNdVY3KIC&oi=fnd&pg=PR6&dq=tradition&ots=ZQsvRJzlva&sig=zN1O9Cqt48orZDD_ybKCp9x9OSM#v=onepage&q&f=false">a collection of essays published in 2000 asserts</a>, are invented. In other words, as much as the word 'tradition' conjures up ideas of age-old practices and dusty tomes, a 'tradition' is often a remarkably recent construction.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nowhere is this more evident than in sport. The most recent example of this, in cricket, is the Indian Premier League, a competition that has brought together cricketing superstars -- often, <a href="http://beyondcowcorner.blogspot.com/2011/05/cricketing-digest.html">as I commented last week</a>, in the twilight of their careers -- to compete in a supercharged, low-attention-span, fizzy-drink form of the game.** Although the 20-over form of the game was in fact <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty20">introduced into the English county game in 2003</a>, it was the 2008 inauguration of the IPL -- with all the commercial perks of advertising, sponsorship, and astronomical signing fees -- that marked the beginning of the youngest of sporting traditions.</div><div><br /></div><div>This commercial aspect is significant. To return to my initial topic: the tradition of football's English Premier League, 16 years its similarly named cricketing cousin's junior, saw an explosion in advertising, sponsorship, attendance, and merchandising revenue for the 22 (reduced to 20 in 1995) clubs in the English top flight. The link with BSkyB, who were granted exclusive broadcasting rights at the inception of the league, is a particularly contentious one. This particular tradition, then, as well as being heavily constructed, has been -- from the beginning -- a heavily commercial one.</div><div><br /></div><div>My point, then, is this: while I <i>do not</i> mean to suggest that United's 18 (well, ok, 19) titles are in some way inferior to Liverpool's, having been achieved in the main (11/12 out of 18/19) with the help of the significant commercial backing that has arisen through the tradition of the BSkyB-backed Premiership, they should be seen as undoubtedly <i>different</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>But congratulations, United, on another success. And extra congratulations to the alcoholic-nosed, gum-chomping septuagenarian cyborg; will SAF <i>ever</i> retire?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>*If United don't leave Ewood Park as champions, it'll be the first time in 9 years -- when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_FA_Cup_Final">Arsenal's 2-0 victory over Chelsea on May the 4th 2002</a> preceded <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FA_Premier_League_2001-02">the Gunners' clinching of the title</a> four days later -- that the destination of FA Cup trophy has been decided earlier than the Premiership title.</div><div>**I'm aware this sounds like I have a fairly grumpy view of the IPL; this isn't in fact true, and this sentence was mainly included for the purposes of a cheap laugh along it's-just-not-cricket lines. Sorry about that.</div>Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-35498507350850668152011-05-06T22:27:00.002+01:002011-05-06T23:15:32.602+01:00Cricketing DigestI feel I've neglected the initial focus of this blog in the not-so-glamorous cricketing months, so in a short post tonight I thought I'd do a quick run-down of recent news in the world of leather on willow. (I haven't been following it for a couple of weeks, so it may be that the new Lalit Modi has decided that playing the game with a metal post and a ball of rubber bands is a better crowd-puller than a leather ball and a wooden bat, and therefore that that particular figure of speech is even more outmoded than usual. [They don't still use willow, do they? I'm way out of my depth.])<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><u>Broadly Speaking</u></div><div><u><br /></u></div><div>(That was just an excuse to use that pun; I'd have done so even if I didn't have anything to say about the England captaincy.) So Alastair Cook, who's played 3 ODIs in the past two and a half years, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/13288262.stm">is the new England captain</a>. Right. And Stuart Broad, 9 months after <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/8896057.stm">being fined 50% of his match fee for an act of borderline ABH</a>, has got the T20 job. Hmmm.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's a thought: why not pick someone to do both jobs who's in both teams? And who doesn't have a yearly tantrum?</div><div><br /></div><div><u>Warne Again? No</u></div><div><u><br /></u></div><div>(That one was even worse. Sorry about that.) So Shane Warne is to <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/13307663.stm">retire from cricket at the end of the season</a>. Who even knew he was still playing?? I'm surprised he can bear to prise himself away from his nice little earner in the commentary box. Or maybe he's started combining the two? Now that I'd pay to watch -- get on it, Sky.</div><div><br /></div><div><u>KP's Back</u></div><div><u><br /></u></div><div>(Yes, I gave up.) Coming in second on our list of 'talented yet incredibly arrogant cricketers whom you thought had long ago decided to concentrate on the more commercial sides of their careers rather than spend any time actually on the pitch' is the delightful Sir Kev, who's<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/13291790.stm"> preparing for his come-back from injury</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Given that a middle order of Trott, Bopara, and Morgan <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/engine/match/433603.html">made 73% of England's runs in their last game</a>, thought, you have to ask: do we really need him?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Well that was a lazy post. Apologies. More of the same, or better (you never know), next week -- I'm off to bed. Live the Friday night dream, people! :)</div>Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-78656560971138670262011-04-21T14:37:00.004+01:002011-04-21T15:15:48.134+01:00A Tale of Two Rockets<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></p><span><span>Firstly, a declaration: I like snooker. I’ve never really been sure why I’m such a fan of a prissy and antiquated pseudo-sport on which heavy traces of the Edwardian drawing room lie heavy. Is it a mathematical attraction to patterns and angles? Perhaps. One reason may be that certain players throw up all sorts of mixed emotions that I don’t experience in watching other sportspeople.</span></span><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span>Take Ronnie O’Sullivan, for instance. I have such mixed feelings that I feel the need to write paired pieces, both of which express an aspect of my thinking on the matter, and neither of which is the whole truth, in and of itself.</span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span><br /><b></b></span></span><span><span><b>Why I Don't Like Ronnie O'Sullivan</b></span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span>When sports stars like the incredibly talented Marcus Trescothick and the surprisingly effective </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span><span>Michael Yardy have t</span></span>o <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/2295159/Marcus-Trescothick-retires-from-England.html">truncate their international careers</a> or <a href="http://www.sportinglife.com/cricket/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=cricket/11/03/24/manual_075430.html&BID=614">limit their international opportunities</a> as a result of widely publicised mental health problems, it does absolutely no good to have someone like O'Sullivan 'threatening' to retire from the game at <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/4492107.stm">every</a> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-1269656/Ronnie-OSullivan-quit-threat-crashing-World-Championship.html">hint</a> of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/others/snooker-ronnie-osullivan-drops-hint-over-retirement-2258209.html">things not quite going his way</a>: t</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span">he viewing public, quite rightly, see such ‘threats’ as so much hot air, which in turn diminishes the amount of sympathy for sportsmen and women with genuine health p</span></span><span><span>roblems.</span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span>Mark Williams, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; ">O'Sullivan's fellow professional, perhaps had it right when he offered a rather biting comment on the other's vacillating attitude towards the game:</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(70, 70, 70); font-size: 13px; "></span></span></span></p><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" >If he wants to pull out or retire, then just do it, because he's talked about it so many times... Just do it if you want to.</span></blockquote><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; "></span></p><span><span>Sadly, this is how hearing some of O'Sullivan's comments on his commitment to snooker makes me feel -- a real pity, given that he is such an undeniably great sporting talent.</span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span><br /><b>Why I Would Rather Watch O'Sullivan Than Any Other Snooker Player</b></span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span><b></b>The reason I would rather watch O'Sullivan play than any other is quite simple. It's not that he is great, although he is; it's not that he keeps the game flowing in a pleasing way, although he does; it's that at his best, he plays the game with the sort of carefree abandon with whi</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; ">ch <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/dec/17/chris-gayle-australia-west-indies">Chris Gayle hits a 70-ball Test Match century</a>, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-1356337/Six-Nations-2011-England-59-Italy-13-Chris-Ashton-bags-4-tries-Twickenham.html">Chris Ashton carves open opposition back lines</a>, or <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkTPKXcOlEo&feature=related">Lionel Messi leaves defences looking <i>very </i>stupid</a></span><span><span>.</span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span>It doesn’t matter that Stephen Hendry, in terms of sheer numbers of titles won, will probably always be ‘a better player’ than O’Sullivan: it’s a case of Iniesta vs Scholes, or Lara vs Dravid; as undoubtedly great as the alternatives may be, you’d always rather see the one who plays the sport (or game, or hobby, or life) with style.</span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span>It is possibly this very Janus-like ability to encompass such conflicting opinions that makes me love sport. (Yes, all sport -- including snooker...) It is why Ronnie O’Sullivan has me purring in awe and shouting abuse at the television, almost in equal measure -- with behaviour like that, it’s probably a good thing I’m not at Sheffield this week.</span></span><span><span></span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></p></div>Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-39385371131100953522011-04-16T11:51:00.002+01:002011-04-16T13:25:10.366+01:00Turning PointsFrom what I remember of sporting events in the mid-'90s, they were all pretty poor. Perhaps my judgement was clouded by the usual teenage angst, but I just don't feel there was anything to compare with the drama of, say, the great <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lewis#Long_Jump_showdown_versus_Powell">Lewis vs Powell World Championships in 1991</a> or, eleven years on, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_FIFA_World_Cup">Brazil's 'pentacampe<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">ã</span>o' romp to the football world title</a>.<div><br /></div><div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_FIFA_World_Cup#Final">Baggio's penalty miss in '94</a> was fairly dramatic, but it did come at the end of a mind-bogglingly dull 120-minute slog through the Pasadena heat. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0NT6aUwN8c">Gazza's goal</a> at Euro '96 was sublime, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_1996#Group_A">England beating the Netherlands 4-1</a> was special, but the rest of that tournament -- at least from the point of view of a 12-year-old England fan -- was forgettable enough.</div><div><br /></div><div>One sporting occasion that does stand out from this rather fallow period, however, is the '95 Rugby World Cup. The political significance of this -- the recent emergence from apartheid, South Africa returning to the international sporting fold, Nelsen Mandela and Francois Pienaar -- has been covered in the recent film <i>Invictus</i>; suffice to say, then, this was an event the ramifications of which went far beyond the white lines.</div><div><br /></div><div>Positioned halfway through the decade, and at the beginning of a new chapter in both international political and sporting relations with South Africa, this was a whole tournament of turning points.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is not what I want to write about, however -- Matt Damon & co. have already covered all that. My turning point -- for English rugby, which spiralled into an 8-period of underachievement known as the 'we were waiting for JW's left foot' years; for international rugby itself; for a 6'5", 20 stone 20 year-old, who could have quite easily based a career on this one match, had he achieved nothing else -- came in the semi-final between England and New Zealand.</div><div><br /></div><div>As I remember it, it was the first kick-off of the match; internet records inform me my memory is playing tricks.</div><div><br /></div><div>Before I go any further, though, I should provide a little background for those of you unfamiliar with the niceties of the rugby union restart, or those of you who started watching the sport later, when what happened would have been nothing out of the ordinary.</div><div><br /></div><div>When a game is (re-)started in full-XV rugby union (not <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_sevens">Sevens</a>, but that's another thing entirely), the fly half (or first five-eighth) kicks the ball diagonally forwards, the idea being to return it to the opposition team, but also to hang the ball up in the air long enough to give members of your team the time to run and put pressure on the catcher.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rugby union was, for years, a rather genteel sport. When, in the late nineteenth century, a group of players at northern clubs thought to make polite enquiries as to the possibility of supplementing their meagre everyday incomes with money from the games they played in at the weekends, the southern clubs -- staffed in the main by rather-more-well-off types, who could afford to not receive remuneration for their rugby -- insisted that the Rugby Football Union was to remain amateur.</div><div><br /></div><div>While Rugby League has been professional ever since -- and has indeed evolved almost into a separate sport -- Rugby Union spent much of the twentieth century an amateur endeavour. Which rather suited it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rugby Union is full of rules and regulations regarding 'set pieces' that essentially involve creating an elaborate ballet on the field of play. Where association football has one man throwing the ball in after it goes out of play, in union they involve up to 16 players in a cross between a morris dance, a synchronised swimming display, and a wrestling match. League have a perfunctory scrum that sees three players from each team linking arms, and waiting for the scrum-half to recycle the ball; in union the scrum has the sense of a ritual that must be performed in a certain way. When Gareth Edwards, say (like a Welsh Ben Youngs from the '70s, for younger readers), clipped the ball over the top and raced down the blindside, rather than passing it out across the field, you could hear The Guardians of the Game struggling to prevent their appreciation of his genius being tainted by a strong 'that's just not cricket' disapproval.</div><div><br /></div><div>The hanging kick at the re-start is one of these performances -- 'things which must be done in a certain way before we can start playing the game'. The fly-half's kick is directed towards the opposition's heavier, slower forwards, who are in turn faced by the kicking team's forwards. The opposing catcher would either collect the ball and take it into contact or pass it straight to his own backs, or he would spill it (either under pressure or not). The game didn't really get going, in other words, until this 'kick to the forwards' had been got out of the way.</div><div><br /></div><div>What, though, if this <i>wasn't </i>something that had to be done? Why not start playing the game much earlier?</div><div><br /></div><div>20 minutes into the first half, Andrew Mehrtens -- the Kiwi #10 -- stepped up to take the re-start after a Rob Andrew penalty. The England forwards were lined up to the right of the right-footed Mehrtens, facing their All Black counterparts, and braced to receive the ball.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mehrtens kicked left.</div><div><br /></div><div>This had two repercussions: the England backs were completely unprepared for this, and so the advancing All Black backs reached the ball before they did; and the player who caught the ball -- the 20-year-old left winger making only his 5th appearance for the team -- had the bulk to brush aside the confused England defenders while they were still trying to work out which sport they were meant to be playing.</div><div><br /></div><div>This wasn't what was meant to happen! They'd cheated!! By being fast, and quick-thinking, and powerful, and....generally better than England.</div><div><br /></div><div>1995 is the year that Rugby Union turned professional, and I like to connect this with that moment, in which Jonah Lomu walked <i>over</i> poor little (as he looked) Tony Underwood. Gone was a time in which re-starts went in an expected direction, and wingers were the weedy members of the XV: in came the professional era, and daily training, and nutrition programmes, and back lines with an average weight north of 15 stone.</div><div><br /></div><div>Perhaps my memory of the event is significant in its faultiness: it <i>felt</i> like the beginning of the match; New Zealand's dominance throughout <i>deserved </i>a first-minute try. It was a defining moment. English rugby was not going to be the same again; Tony Underwood certainly wasn't.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>What's your sporting turning point? Leave a comment below, and we can continue the nostalgia-fest.</i></div>Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-64641501512087931102011-04-09T19:02:00.004+01:002011-04-10T13:42:58.627+01:00The Numbers GameI've been a bit lax updating the blog of late (an excuse that seems to get trotted out by about one in every three online writers, so apologies for the tedium), but I've been meaning for a while to write something on a subject close to my....well, not heart -- more head. It combines two of my favourite things -- sport and numbers -- although not in a particularly traditional way.<div><br /></div><div>It's a question that gets asked on such a regular basis that it's become almost a non-question -- a topic that serves only to service a nation's journalists and commentators (oh the irony of spending yet more [virtual] column inches on this): why are the England football team perennial underachievers?</div><div><br /></div><div>I have a possible answer, and it has nothing to do with <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/sep/16/england-fabio-capello">Fabio Capello</a>, <a href="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-sport/football/article-23838314-steven-gerrard-and-frank-lampard-double-act-no-laughing-matter.do">the Lampard/Gerrard combination</a>, <a href="http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/sport/football/manchester_united/s/1413014_can_wayne_rooney_and_andy_carroll_be_englands_new_sas">striking partnerships</a>, or <a href="http://twofootedtackle.com/england-national-team/what-value-does-a-captain-really-have-in-football/">the captaincy merry-go-round</a>. (Though don't get me started on the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/7107374/John-Terry-colourful-private-life-of-Captain-Controversy.html">many</a> <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/7102733/Judge-lifts-super-injunction-over-John-Terry-affair-with-team-mates-girlfriend.html">hideousnesses</a> <a href="http://www.irishcentral.com/story/ent/amyandrews_gossipgirl/john-terry-mocked-americans-after-911--massacre-83680502.html">of</a> <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2427960/Terry-arrested-in-club-incident.html">John</a> <a href="http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061107081300AA8SvqL">Terry</a>...) It's the numbering of the England players' shirts.</div><div><br /></div><div>(Stick with me.)</div><div><br /></div><div>In club football in this country (this sample is taken for two reasons: it's what I know most about; and it's where the vast majority of the players in recent England squads ply their trade), players are assigned -- or choose -- a squad number. Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard are #10 and #8, numbers corresponding to their positions, but the aforementioned racist thug (sorry, I'll keep quiet) is #26. </div><div><br /></div><div>Often there are personal reasons for this. Although my gag reflex prevents me from spending any more time googling Terry, I believe the choice of #26 relates to his admiration of an ex-player with a similar number. This is also the reason for Cesc Fàbregas's #4 shirt, in honour of the great Spanish midfield maestro -- and, incidentally, management <i>wunderkind</i> -- Pep Guardiola. And the story of David Beckham's various shirt numbers -- #7 at Manchester United, after Best/Cantona; #23 in more recent years, in honour of Michael Jordan -- is practically a feature-film narrative in its own right.</div><div><br /></div><div>But whatever the reasons, each individual player has his own number. He has a shirt he can call his own -- the shirt, quite literally, has his name on it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Not so when he plays for England, however: the 11 starting players, on the day, are allocated the numbers 1 to 11. This gives rise to the following extremes:</div><div><ul><li>if a player has a less-than-regular role in the team he can never be sure of his shirt number</li><li>a bit-part player feels immediately like a first-choice player</li></ul></div><div>Not such a bad thing, you might think: why should a regular starting number matter to a player? And surely an instant feeling of belonging is good for morale?</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, not entirely.</div><div><br /></div><div>To suggest that the number of his shirt doesn't matter to a footballer, at least at some level of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud">the unconscious mind</a>, is to deny his humanity. (No jokes about Wayne Rooney and potatoes.) Human beings, at the most basic level, need to feel wanted; they need to feel they have a role; having an assigned shirt number taps into this essential need.</div><div><br /></div><div>And while a one-off international -- I have a feeling that, after <a href="http://www.football.co.uk/chelsea/joey_barton_brands_gareth_barry_a_teacher_s_pet_rss1637051.shtml">his comments about Gareth Barry</a>, Joey Barton is likely to remain in this category -- may benefit in the short term from the instant feeling of being a part of the team, what does this mean for the recent occupant of the same shirt? How, for instance, does Frank Lampard feel about seeing 'WILSHERE' on the back of the white #8?</div><div><br /></div><div>There are other problems. Club football is the 'day job' of the players; when they step up to international level, surely the system should do everything possible to ensure they're able to play in the same way? Instead, each match is a one-off -- a busman's holiday, granted, but still a holiday.</div><div><br /></div><div>To take simply the most obvious example, Lampard and Gerrard, who have driven their respective clubs' midfield engine rooms for the best part of a decade, wear the same number: the attacking-midfielder-with-a-licence-to-roam-from-box-to-box's #8. What happens when they're made to play in the same team? Who -- both metaphorically, and literally -- is the team's #8? The age-old 'why can't L&G play together?' debate may have more to do with Gerrard's mental struggle to accommodate seeing another #8 on the pitch than one might think.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is all speculative, but there may just be something in it: numbers matter. (If you remain in any doubt, count the number of #7s on display for Manchester United in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7IVsmlfZvI">this testimonial</a>.) I reckon Fabio Capello could do worse than break out the squad numbers from now on -- maybe Darren Bent could start to replicate his consistently awesome club form of recent years if he were allowed to wear 'BENT 39' for his country...</div>Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-69757108628354053762011-02-20T23:36:00.005+00:002011-02-21T00:20:31.665+00:00Putting Mr Creosote on a DietThis weekend sees the start of that period in the cricketing year when the ICC seem to think that taking a tired and disillusioned format that has been superseded in the entertainment stakes by the upstart younger brother (Twenty20) and that has never had the prestige of the grandaddy of the game (Test) and producing a staggeringly <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlK62rjQWLk">bloated</a> tournament out of it is the way to have the fans flocking in their droves to cricket grounds and tv screens. Even <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/9402587.stm">the England captain</a> has stuck his oar in -- when you're responsible for a feat of anti-organisation so extreme it gets Straussy criticising you, you know you're in trouble.<div><br /></div><div>Once the thing has got underway fully, I'll no doubt weigh in with an opinion or two on the games themselves. (And no, I don't mean I'm just waiting for England to play, because 'only then does the tournament start properly'; I just think that a weekend of minnow-crushing doesn't give many pointers as to the form of the teams involved. Did we really doubt that Kenya and Canada would be humbled? [Although, actually, didn't <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/9398975.stm">England only just scrape past Canada</a>? Maybe England should be classed as minnows, too. To be honest, that's probably not a bad idea: then at least we wouldn't go into the match against the Netherlands as firm favourites; <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/8082343.stm">we all know how that's turned out in the past</a>...])</div><div><br /></div><div>For the moment, here are some suggestions for the ICC of ways to ensure future World Cups aren't overshadowed in the excitement stakes by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K64Zx_4SJ60">their own adverts</a>.</div><div><ul><li><b>drastically limit the number of teams involved</b>: I know, I know, allowing Canada/Netherlands/etc. to take part encourages interest in those countries, increasing revenue, and thereby aiding development -- honestly, though, when <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/9402863.stm">Kenya get destroyed by 10 wickets</a>, how much good is that doing...well, anyone? </li><li><b>shorten the tournament</b>: a by-product of the first point, but the length of time covered by the WC needs to be analysed. Cutting out the second group stage (Super Sixes) is a good start.</li><li><b>play Twenty20 instead</b>: ok, not an entirely serious point, but do we really need a WC as well as a World T20? </li></ul><div>I could go on, but it's time to go and watch the highlights: having cricket on terrestrial tv is a wonderful thing. Also, it's Sri Lanka, for whom I do have a bit of a soft spot -- I'd <i>love</i> another 'home' win for them, 15 years after their first...</div></div>Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-51204835270940222152011-02-06T15:38:00.004+00:002011-02-06T16:12:20.440+00:00Cricket's Coming 'Home'...BrieflyThis morning -- well, afternoon; it's all relative, hemispherically speaking -- Team England crawled over the finish line, two days into the fourth month of a tour of Australia that has seen, for all the hype surrounding the Test series, mixed results.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><u>Tour matches</u></div><div><u><br /></u></div><div>Opponents: Western Australia, South Australia, Australia A, Victoria, Prime Minister's XI</div><div>England's Record: 3-0; W (6 wickets), D, W (10 wickets), D, W (7 wickets, D/L)</div><div>Verdict: An undeniable English success. Three comfortable wins, and two draws in which England lost only 20 wickets in four innings, and outscored their opponents 1305-857.</div><div><br /></div><div><u>Tests</u></div><div><u><br /></u></div><div>Record: 3-1; D, W (inn + 71r), L (267r), W (inn + 157r), W (inn + 83r)</div><div>Verdict: Another England victory. Unlike last time, this was fully deserved: the century count, a bone of contention among Aussie pundits in 2009, was England 9, Australia 3. Wickets taken was another battle won by the English: they took 91, bowling the Aussies out on every occasion except the 2nd innings in Brisbane; Australia managed only 56, bowling England out 5 times.</div><div><br /></div><div><u>T20s</u></div><div><u><br /></u></div><div>Record: 1-1; W (1 wicket, last ball), L (4 runs)</div><div>Verdict: Not so much a contest in which the teams won a game each, as one in which the scores were level after each failed to win one. Australia probably edge it, with two 50-plus scores (Watson and Finch) to England's one plus-40 (Morgan).</div><div><br /></div><div><u>ODIs</u></div><div><u><br /></u></div><div>Record: 1-6; LLLWLLL</div><div>Verdict: Hmmm.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>So there you have it: a tour in which England dominated the longer format with an ease that was at times embarrassing, but that saw a resurgence from Australia in the shorter forms of the game. And with a World Cup imminent, England's shortcomings on the one-day field are likely to obliterate any residual feelings of euphoria over a third Ashes win this century.</div>Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-23294223331005080602011-01-06T15:22:00.002+00:002011-01-06T16:02:30.186+00:00New Year, New Design(As it's the rugby season, and having a light and summery background in January just feels wrong.)Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-67771735397110882322011-01-06T14:08:00.007+00:002011-02-06T16:14:35.769+00:00Snatching Victory from the Jaws of........Well, VictoryIn a few hours' time, barring a <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bothams-Ashes-Miracle-Headingley-DVD/dp/B0002FR05G">Botham-esque stand</a> from Smith and Siddle, England will have added a series victory to their regaining of the Ashes, and made a mockery of many pre-Brisbane predictions. (<a href="http://beyondcowcorner.blogspot.com/2010/11/things-we-have-learnt-from-ashes-so-far.html">Mine</a> included, although a 2-1 win was only slightly too conservative.)<br /><br />The interventions of Christmas and New Year have meant I haven't documented this series as closely as I wanted to; some might say this was a good thing, as the up-turn in England's fortunes coincided with the start of my blogging silence. . . But I couldn't resist returning at the end of 23 days of often brilliant and sometimes woeful cricket to offer some final thoughts. (Slash gloats.)<br /><br /><br /><u>Man of the Series</u><br /><br />Fairly predictably, <strong>Alastair Cook</strong>. 700+ runs , batting for 36+ hours -- that's <em>a day and a half</em>. That <a href="http://beyondcowcorner.blogspot.com/2010/08/past-achievement-vs-future-promise.html">pie</a>'s still tasting pretty good.<br /><br /><br /><u>Best Innings of the Series</u><br /><br />Finally, <strong>Kevin Pietersen </strong>had silenced the doubters. Not got the temperament to push on into the 200s? Pah. Weak against left-arm spinners? It doesn't really matter if you get to 227 before falling to one. The first innings at Adelaide was a masterwork. Gone was the scratchy, jittery Kaypee of yesteryear, foxed by such cricketing goliaths as <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-1256198/KP-bunny-Struggling-Kevin-Pietersen-cope-left-arm-spin-star-fails-again.html">Mehrab Hossain</a>; this was a new, mature model of the complete batter. KP 2.0, then. Until...<br /><br /><br /><u>...Worst Shot of the Series</u><br /><br />Oh dear. After an ugly swipe at Mitchell Johnson yesterday, the composure of the Adelaide double-century appears to have been a false dawn.<br /><br /><br /><u>Most Undermined Stat of the Series</u><br /><br /><strong>Jimmy Anderson</strong>'s 5 previous wickets in Australia went for 80 apiece; England were basing their attack on someone who just didn't have a clue when handed the Kookaburra ball. So this analysis makes for pretty good reading:<br /><br />208.1 ~ 49 ~ 614 ~ 23<br /><br />That's 23 wickets at 26.7, with an economy rate of less than 3 an over. Oh, and 23.5% of his overs were maidens.<br /><br /><br /><u>The Heart and Soul of England Cricket Award</u><br /><br />Duncan Fletcher, Nasser Hussain, and the Three Wise Andrews (Flintoff, Strauss, Flower) have all been credited with a hand in the renaissance of English cricket over the past decade or so; the man I believe to have done more for the game in this country than any other, since his ODI debut in 2001, is <strong>Paul Collingwood</strong>, who <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2010-11/content/story/495566.html">retired from Test cricket this week</a>. So long, Paul, and thanks for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AVs8ywsTTM">all</a>...<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WMEXP4G9sM">of</a>...<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6fcko3knok">these</a>.Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-5631597892407494832010-12-17T10:24:00.004+00:002010-12-17T10:27:35.599+00:00Things We Have Learnt from the Ashes So Far (Part Three)<em><a href="http://beyondcowcorner.blogspot.com/2010/12/broads-loss-is-xxxs-gain.html">Schadenfreude</a> </em>-- especially where the England cricket team is concerned -- is never a good idea.Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-41343670147179057642010-12-12T20:49:00.006+00:002010-12-13T09:46:48.820+00:00Broad's Loss Is XXX's GainMembers of the Fast Bowlers' Union have been the focus this week, as <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2010-11/content/story/490728.html">an injury to Stuart Broad has ended his first overseas Ashes</a>.<br /><br />Or rather, they were the focus, until they <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2010-11/engine/current/match/446954.html">failed to take a wicket in the final 124.4 overs</a> of the match billed as a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/9268267.stm">shoot-out for the vacated Test place</a>.<br /><br />Matt Prior, instead, took the headlines, in a game that provided little in the way of cricketing interest; little, that is, apart from a surge, at 55-4 in the second innings, in the old feeling -- familiar to any fan of England cricket between 1987 and 2003 -- that England were about to come unstuck. High/lowlights included 3 wickets for Paul 'God' Collingwood, and combined figures of 7 overs for 88 from Strauss and Morgan, with the captain doing his best attempt to polish faecal matter by taking his 3rd first-class wicket (and thus leading to the pub quiz question 'what ignominious cricketing fate links Kevin Pietersen, Stephen Fleming, and Michael Hill?').<br /><br />So, in the interests of--well, interest, here are 3 alternative -- not <em>entirely</em> serious -- options for the Andies to consider as they ponder filling the Ashes hole.<br /><br />1. <strong>Give Morgan a Go</strong>: Colly has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he's a world-class bowler, capable of tearing thro--or, at the very least, conjuring devastat--listen, at least his recent first-class record is better than Mitchell Johnson's, ok? England don't need another bowler. 5-man attack? Pah. 4-man? <em>So</em> last year. Morgan in at 5, Colly the superstar all-rounder at 6, Bell, Prior, and 3 bowlers.<br /><br />2. <strong>Why not Monty</strong>? Rub it in the Aussies' faces: trouble finding one spinner, eh? We've got so many, we don't know what to do with them. Granted, playing two spinners on the bouncing, swinging deck at the WACA may not be a great idea, but it could just be a stroke of genius. Besides, Finn and Anderson will have them 7 down before lunch on the first day, anyway.<br /><br />3. <strong>Go Local</strong>: there must be an England-qualified medium-fast journeyman languishing somewhere in Australian grade cricket. (Does the name <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/270253.html">Darren Pattinson</a> ring any bells?) No, we don't need to go looking, but it might make the Aussies feel a bit better about <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/dec/12/the-ashes-2010-michael-beer-australia">their selectorial machinations</a>. (Isn't <em>Schadenfreude</em> great?)<br /><br />Not that it really matters. After Stuart Broad's golden duck and MJ's 32-ball 0 at Brisbane, Ryan Harris's Adelaide pair, and 4 wickets in 7 innings between the three of them, England's new no. 8 doesn't have a lot to live up to.Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-22863933236294427682010-12-07T20:47:00.002+00:002010-12-07T21:35:45.566+00:00Things We Have Learnt from the Ashes So Far (Part Two)<ul><li><b>Cook must be loving this Ashes lark: </b>after two Tests, though his average has plummeted from 302 to a measly 225, the young opener appears to be doing his best to grind <a href="http://beyondcowcorner.blogspot.com/2010/08/past-achievement-vs-future-promise.html">my gloomy comments</a> into the dust; the horrific 2009 series, in which a first innings 95 was the only score above 32, and he failed 5 times on a score of smaller than 11, is a distant memory.</li><li><b>KP is back to his confident, nay, obnoxiously arrogant best: </b>the wicket of Michael Clarke on the fourth evening was the unnecessary cherry on the cake of an English double-centurion who has finally banished the demons that have plagued him in recent years -- not only did he spend much of his 227 taking apart one Australian left-arm spinner, but the dismissal of Clarke, fittingly, saw him dismiss <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2010-11/content/player/4578.html">another</a>.</li><li><b>Swann is bowling like a match-winner:</b> not that this is particularly unexpected, but I thought it was worthy of note, if only because I was very close to including something along the lines of 'Swanny needs to buck his ideas up' in my last post. Good job I decided not to, then.</li></ul>Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-80945134534678280642010-11-29T08:23:00.005+00:002010-12-07T20:58:20.411+00:00Things We Have Learnt from the Ashes So Far<ul><li><strong>Cook's place is probably not under threat:</strong> an average of 310 in the 2010 Ashes to date will do wonders for a batsman's self-confidence.</li><li><strong>Trott is yet to play an Ashes test without making a hundred:</strong> <a href="http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/47623.html?class=1;opposition=2;template=results;type=batting;view=innings">statistics never lie</a>. Ok, so it's a fairly small sample, but it's the sort of thing to get up the collective nose of an Ozzie attack. Speaking of which...</li><li><strong>Doherty and Johnson are no Warne and McGrath:</strong> with combined match figures of 90.5-15-318-2 (an amalgam that actually does Xavier Doherty a disservice, as both the wickets were his), these two are unlikely to give England's batsmen any sleepless nights. I'd say Doherty's place is safe for now (<a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/engine/match/474065.html">Smith's single wicket against WA</a> is unlikely to have XD [isn't that a smiley face of some sort?] quaking in his boots), but Harris and Bollinger are breathing down Johnson's neck -- I'd expect at least one of them to come in (with, possibly, Hilfenhaus making way as well).</li><li><strong>An England series win is still a possibility:</strong> ok, so that was hardly going to be overturned by a single test, but I'll take any opportunity to put a positive spin on things -- <a href="http://beyondcowcorner.blogspot.com/2010/11/why-i-want-ricky-ponting-to-win.html">my prediciton</a> is still on. (I'm going for 2-1.)</li></ul><div><b>EDIT: </b>Cook's average is 302, not 310, not that it matters much...</div>Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-14201633636254784882010-11-24T07:46:00.002+00:002010-11-24T08:22:36.657+00:00Why I Want Ricky Ponting to Win the Ashes...MaybeDon't get me wrong.<br /><br />Come midnight tonight -- well, that's if I can be bothered to stay up into the night for a contest between the teams world-ranked, as Andy Zaltzman puts it, <a href="http://blogs.espncricinfo.com/andyzaltzman/">fourth [and] fifth. Out of, basically, 8</a> -- I'll be cheering Strauss & Co. on like your next cricket-obsessed English loon. (Incidentally, doesn't 'Strauss & Co.' sound like a gentlemen's outfitters from the late 19th century?)<br /><br />And if there's one figure in world cricket I truly despise, it is Ricky <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article6619472.ece">'sour grapes'</a> Ponting, with his face like a constipated bulldog chewing a wasp wrapped in a cow-pat. (Actually, maybe that's what he <em>has</em> been chewing, all these years. Would explain a lot.)<br /><br />The fact is, though, that Ricky Ponting, loath him or dislike him, is one of the greatest cricketers to walk the face of the earth. Yes, he whinges a fair bit, but he's <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/7133.html">second only to The Don in the batting rankings of a country that has produced a fair few good cricketers</a>; ok, so he has a slight weakness on the legside, now that his flexibility and footwork aren't what they used to be, but he scored so many runs at under-13 level club cricket (507 in 7 innings, with an average of 507) that they had to change the rules governing when a batter should retire.* And he may not appear to be the most dazzling of Ozzie captains -- his propensity to bat when winning the toss is reaching near-pathological levels -- he is still, as David Boots argues, <a href="http://www.theroar.com.au/2009/08/30/ponting-for-the-record/">one of the most successful skippers ever</a>.<br /><br />I don't particularly want to see such greatness -- the word is overused, but not, I believe, in this case -- trashed because Punter happens to be only the third Australian captain in history to lose 3 Ashes series. Firstly, given the current ICC standings, does The Ashes <em>really</em> matter all that much? And secondly, it's not like Australia were trounced in either of the other two: in 2005, England were handed <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/engvaus/content/story/215050.html">a giant stroke of luck when a cricket ball, for once, didn't do what Glenn McGrath wanted it to</a>; in 2009, Australia were not so much beaten into submission as bored into it <a href="http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/50506,people,sport,england-hold-on-for-nail-biting-draw-in-cardiff-thanks-to-james-anderson-and-monty-panesar">by a dogged 10/11 partnership</a>.<br /><br />So it is with mixed emotions that I predict an England series win this time around.** It will be great if we do inflict another defeat on a faltering long-term adversary; I just wish the losing captain had scored a few fewer than 12,250 Test runs.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />*Sorry, you're relying on my memory for this, as I can't find a link to the article -- it was in one of the UK national broadsheets at the weekend, though.<br /><br />**Given the success of my last prediction, in <a href="http://beyondcowcorner.blogspot.com/2010/07/four-months-to-go.html">which I failed to even predict the number of players England would take on tour, let alone their names</a>, I'd take this with a huge lump of salt.Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132217323797599972.post-62287737096716922452010-08-20T07:51:00.004+01:002010-08-20T15:09:51.286+01:00Past Achievement vs. Future PromiseIt's been a mixed couple of days for England's cricketers. <div><br /></div><div>Graeme Swann's fortunes appeared to have continued on a downward spiral, post-Catgate, as his name was left off the ICC longlist for cricketer of the year. This snub -- and any resulting effects -- lasted barely 24 hours, though, as he was added to the list, and promptly picked up his 98th, 99th, 100th, and 101st Test wickets.</div><div><br /></div><div>At the other end of the scale, Alastair Cook continued his rather ignominious battle with Salman Butt (batting totals in last five innings: 1, 8, 7, 0, 17) for the title of 'least in form left-handed opener of the series' by adding a meagre 6 runs to his aggregate of 41 in 4 previous innings.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm more than prepared to eat a whole dish of <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.travelpr.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/humble-pie-chart1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.travelpr.co.uk/blog/tag/kate-humble/&usg=__SkpcNzZQQ9XvQBKhkpRSWFKUbts=&h=463&w=600&sz=34&hl=en&start=40&zoom=1&tbnid=236562OlD_gPyM:&tbnh=157&tbnw=204&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhumble%2Bpie%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D641%26tbs%3Disch:10,1040&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=917&vpy=292&dur=890&hovh=197&hovw=256&tx=145&ty=101&ei=ySluTPbZC4uOjAf44vD6CA&oei=ZyluTLPyNcWA4Qa_p5DfCA&esq=2&page=3&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:40&biw=1366&bih=641">humble pie</a> this evening, following a gritty 120 from Cookie that forms the backbone of an eventually-match-winning 200+ lead. The trouble is, I don't think he's going to deliver. Yes, Cook may be the <a href="http://cricketnext.in.com/news/cook-2nd-youngest-after-sachin-to-4000-test-runs/47445-13.html">second-youngest batsman in the world, after a certain ST, to reach 4000 Test runs</a>. But past achievement, even when compared with the current greatness of a batsman such as Tendulkar, is not necessarily an indicator of future success.</div><div><br /></div><div>Graeme Swann's achievements provide an interesting point of comparison. The third of Swann's four wickets yesterday placed him on an <a href="http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283530.html">intriguing list of players to take 100 wickets in 23 Tests</a>. The names Mankad, Underwood, Warne, McGrath, Mushtaq, and Kaneria will no doubt catch the eye, but it is another English name that is of note, here: nestled between the two great Pakistani spinners is one Stephen James Harmison.</div><div><br /></div><div>In his prime, Harmison was undeniably a good -- even, on a certain March morning at Sabina Park in 2004, a great -- bowler. But he will never be lauded along with the Indian, English, Australian, and Pakistani names that he and Swann both join at 23 on the 100 list.</div><div><br /></div><div>Swann's performances over the next years -- not his achievements over the past 23 matches -- will determine whether he goes the way, in English bowling terms, of Underwood or Harmison. Cook's fortunes, similarly, hang in the balance; though a decision on his future may come sooner rather than later.</div><div><br /></div><div>[<b>POSTSCRIPT, 3pm:</b> Cook falls, 10 runs short of the fairly arbitrary total I set him. Mmmm, tasty.]</div>Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534918941284194558noreply@blogger.com2