A QUESTION OF SPORT.

Whatever happened to "A Question of Sport" ?

Years ago, this was a genuinely good and interesting sporting quiz, albeit compered by some right idiots in David Coleman and David Vine, surely 2 of the worst sports presenters in television history. However, the teams were good with a degree of intelligence thrown in alongside the occasional knockabout humour. In recent times, all this has changed.

Since the introduction of team captains such as Ally McCoist, Matt Dawson and, most notably Phil Tufnell, the programme has descended into puerile farce though, despite its puerile nature, it's also been scheduled later and later, possibly due to the doubtful nature of much of its content. Team members now seem to be chosen more on the basis of their connection to the BBC or on grounds of political correctness rather than anything else. The boringly regular inanity of the chit-chat allied to the general stupidity exhibited by the current captains has made this programme, once unmissable, now one to be avoided at all costs.

No doubt the BBC would say that all they've done is to 'update' the programme's format to meet the expectations of a modern audience. Well, if that's so, then one despairs for the 'modern audience'.  For this viewer, all they've done is to drive him far, far away.

KEVIN PIETERSEN - R.I.P.

Kevin Pietersen has raised his head above the parapet once more, this time to throw a whole variety of brick-bats at his former team mates and team manager. Of course, the main reason for his re-appearance is to publicise his autobiography, which appears to be little more than a diatribe against those whom he blames for his own demise, and a self-justificatory monologue.

The evidence appears to suggest that Pietersen was, at least partially, responsible for his own troubles. As a captain, he was a disaster; as a player, he seems to have been much more interested in his own achievements than in supporting his team mates. His regular disruptive acts, whether planned or simply thoughtless, created difficulties which must have been problematic for the team and its management. In the end, he made his own bed and now he appears keen to set fire to it. 

Whatever the rights and wrongs of it all, Pietersen has now burnt his boats once and for all; he will never play for England again and is most unlikely to ever play any other part in the national cricket set up. A highly talented player has allowed arrogance, pride and his own ego to destroy him.

RYDER CUP POSTSCRIPT

Oh, My God !


Just seen that the trophy has been presented by Alex Salmond, wearing the most appalling pair of tartan trousers.


To have Salmond presenting the trophy was, on it's own, contentious given that more than half of the Scottish population didn't vote for his independence motion and the 'welcome' he received from the crowd showed this. His presence was a purely political move and is deplorable; his trousers simply made the matter worse.


Why do politicians feel the need to intrude into non-political arenas in this way ? Why don't they, instead, concentrate on the often earth-shaking events for which we elect them ? Only they can say, though we all know.

EUROPE WINS RYDER CUP - AGAIN !

A brilliant European team retained the Ryder Cup with an emphatic victory over the USA at Gleneagles. Leading 10-6 after the first 2 days, it would have been easy to think that ultimate victory was a foregone conclusion but, at times, the final day looked anything but easy. When Graeme McDowell and Justin Rose were 3 and 4 down, it seemed that the Yanks might be about to repeat the 'Miracle at Medinah' in the opposite direction, but both clawed their way back in to their match and gained vital points. In the end, the European team were stronger overall over the 3 days and deserved their eventual victory by the quite emphatic margin of 16½-11½.

The one down side for me was that I had to watch it on the SKY platform. While the general commentary was fine, I don't think it was anywhere near as good as the BBC manages for their golfing coverage. The studio analysis was often somewhat lame, with Colin Montgomery, fine golfer though he was, proving yet again that he's pretty bloody poor as a studio analyst / summariser. His remarks were usually 'of the bleedin; obvious' or were just irrelevant. Additionally, trying to keep track of the overall match was almost impossible as the coverage switched from game to game, often with no reference to which hole was being played and with some games being largely ignored; a summary scoreboard was shown but so rarely that it was of very little help. Frankly, finally being mugged by Alec Ferguson, who appears to have hung around in the background for ages waiting to be interviewed, was the final straw for me as I have no idea what he had to add; it was clearly one of those stupid 'celebrity opportunity moments' so beloved of broadcasters but which add nothing to an occasion. SKY need to give some serious thought to their coverage of this event if they're to remain as its principal broadcaster and to have any real credibility.

Regardless of any criticisms of the television coverage, this was a great few days for European golf and it showed that, while the Americans have many of the world's top players, so does Europe, the only difference being that the Europeans are usually less well known but, possibly, have greater determination. Roll on 2016, when another team of lesser known but determined Europeans will again beat the all-powerful Americans, this time on their own soil.

ALASTAIR COOK MUST GO.

Is there the slightest chance that the unbelievably arrogant Alastair Cook will resign the England captaincy following his side's latest destruction at the hands of their Indian opponents ? Sadly, I doubt it very much.

The current England team is a bit of a mess, but the biggest problem is its leadership. Cook, on form, is a fine batsman at least in Test cricket. In the one day format he is less than adequate and shouldn't be there anyway; as captain, he is a pointless hindrance. His whole approach to cricket is weak and ineffectual; he is utterly risk averse and has none of the drive needed to motivate a side. He is, quite simply, no captain.

Not only should Cook not be captaining the one-day team, he shouldn't even be in it. By all means, retain him in the Test side, but, please, please, please, not as captain. He simply doesn't have the aptitude or skills needed for the job. HE MUST GO !

INDIAN CRICKET NADIR AS ENGLAND ENJOY BRIEF SUMMER.

What a pathetic collapse by the Indian cricket team.

After good performances in the first 2 tests, including a win in the second, they've fallen apart thereafter. England, if you believe the pundits, have been transformed from a team of no-hopers to a team of world beaters - if only it were true.

The players are the same, the only difference has been attitude and determination. Frankly, the Indians have shown little determination and their attitude has been pathetic; England, on the other hand, have been buoyed by some fine bowling by Anderson and Broad and some large slices of luck for their captain. Alastair  Cook has made a couple of good scores but has also been dropped numerous times along the way, not quite what would have happened against Ricky Ponting's Australians.

Earlier in the year, Cook's position both as captain and batsman, was under attack. Now, after a couple of decent scores, courtesy of one or three dropped catches, and some easy victories, he appears utterly secure. What has changed ? He's still a fine batsman having a poor spell, but a weak and uninspiring captain; in one position he should be a 'shoe-in', from the other he should still be on his bike. 

The latest crushing of the Indians in less than three days is an utter humiliation for the tourists and will be greeted as a terrific performance by England. In truth, the Indians capitulated as they did in the previous 2 matches, completely unable to deal with English conditions. Unlike the great Indian batsmen of the past, the modern crop don't understand what to do when the ball swings or seams and don't have the patience and/or ability to work out an approach. All of this has been with the one glorious exception of captain M S Dhoni who has shown his 'batsmen' how to do it from his position as captain, wicketkeeper and number 7.

Jimmy Anderson is, undoubtedly, one of the best bowlers in world cricket; Stuart Broad is a pretty good support for him. The rest, Jordan, Woakes, and so on, are nowhere near world class. If Anderson and Broad don't do it early on, the team will have problems; while the batsmen may pile up the runs, the bowlers will struggle.

England don't play another Test Match until they visit the West Indies for a 3 match series next April, which seems a very long time away. By then, Anderson and Broad will be a year nearer retirement and we still won't have a decent third seamer, let alone a spinner of any class. The batting looks good for years to come, the bowling appears horribly fragile; the captaincy is in the hands of one of the poorest to inhabit the role. Our chances don't look good.

EUROPEAN MEDAL RUSH MEANS NOTHING.

After a few days, the European Athletics Championships have ended and Great Britain & Northern Ireland (why not 'The United Kingdom' ?) has topped the medal table with 12 golds, ahead of France; whatever has happened to Russia and Germany ?

This was GB's best performance at a European championship and one has to admit that some of the performances were good. However, Europe is not the world and the excessive enthusiasm with which some of the successes were greeted by television commentators is a little questionable. 'Incredible', 'fabulous', 'unbelievable', 'wonderful', 'superb' and so on are words used by television reporters with such alarming regularity that they have become meaningless; actually, they need to invent some new words as they've used up all of the ones currently available to describe achievements of previously undreamed of heights. None of the performances actually required such excessive praise as the likes of Bob Beamon, Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, Usain Bolt and many others can give testimony to. Greg Rutherford is now the Olympic, Commonwealth and European long jump champion without ever coming within a couple of feet of the marks achieved by Beamon, Lewis, Mike Powell and a number of others. Is Rutherford really a great long jumper ? Is he simply the best of a poor bunch or were the 'super-jumpers' of the past all on drugs ? Who knows ? The only genuinely world class athletes that we know we have are Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis - their performances have been repeated and at world level.

Of course, the achievements of our athletes have been good but no where near good enough to deserve the ludicrous hyperbole heaped on them by the television bunch and general media world. What happens as a result of all of this silly nonsense is that our expectations are raised. Come next year's world championships and the 2016 Olympic Games, we'll all be expecting our athletes to be leading the gold rush; not a chance with the USA, China and all of the African nations taking part. There'll be a few medals and, with luck, a gold or two, but to hope for more is ridiculous. For those who present our sport to build up hopes in the way that they regularly do is to do a disservice to our often very, very good athletes; let's be honest and start out by expecting nothing. That way, we'll be surprised and gratified by every little improvement, personal best, season's best, national record, and, yes, medal.

For us to do anything else is childish and pointless.

BBC SPORT AT ROCK BOTTOM.

What is happening at the BBC ?

In what appears to be a mad race to achieve the mythical 'equality', the BBC seems intent on destroying itself. It's been very noticeable in recent months that an increasing number of women have appeared on our screens, almost always in inappropriate roles. In particular, much of the sports' reporting gas now been given over to women who clearly have no real knowledge or understanding of the sports on which they are attempting to report. It is also quite ridiculous to have women reporting on what are almost entirely male sports; what would be said if a gaggle of men suddenly began to present 'Woman's hour' ? It must surely be a logical necessity that presenters are matched to their subjects and not simply pushed forward because of some moronic notions of 'equality'.

Even worse has been the Beeb's coverage of the Commonwealth Games and European Athletics championships. Out has gone reporting and in has come interminable chat, much of it from a grouping of totally unnecessary women in the studio. I've never had any problem with Gabby Logan as a presenter of football programmes but her elevation to studio-lead alongside a collection of women - Paula Ratcliffe, Denise Lewis and Tanny Grey-Thompson, for the most part - has left me seething. Her apparent true belief in her abbreviated forename - 'Gabby' - and their shrill and mostly pointless waffle has turned the studio into little more than a TV version of woman's hour, and found me turning the sound off on numerous occasions as I've longed to return to some action, rather than listen to yet another rehash of some success, be it from the previous hour, day or century.

And, as if matters could get any worse, when we have returned to the track and field it's been to suffer the incessant natterings of the garrulous Brendan Foster, Steve Backley and, to a slightly lesser extent, Steve Cram. Fine athletes all, these 3 seem to believe that television audiences need to hear the same level of commentary as those on old fashioned 'steam radio'; Foster, in particular, has whittered on like an old woman, saying nothing in as many words as possible while both he and Backley have peppered their commentaries with ludicrous hyperbole. Cram has offended slightly less but the continuous stream of shouty noise coming from the television has had me tearing my hair out. 

Added to all of this, we've had the imbecilic interviews of almost every British athlete by Phil Jones, a man whose range of questions appears as limited as his pate, and cretinous attempts to jolly things along with cowbells in the studio. What Lord Reith would have made of all of this one can only guess, but we are surely nearing the end for this once great corporation.

JO PAVEY : SUPERMUM !

Oh  Jo Pavey, you lovely girl !

I've been watching Jo Pavey compete as an athlete for England and Great Britain for decades. She's always been one of those who tried her hardest and was very good, but without being quite good enough to win major championships. A few silver and bronze medals and some very good times, but never the gold. Yesterday, everything changed.

A couple of weeks ago, Jo took part in the Commonwealth Games and won a brilliant bronze medal at 5,000 metres, being beaten only by 2 renowned Kenyan runners. In itself, this performance was good, but it becomes remarkable when realising that Jo is a women approaching 41 years of age and who gave birth to her second child only 10 months earlier. The manner of her success was also new, with Jo producing a storming finish to outlast one and nearly catch a second Kenyan.

Following on form that success, Jo was entered in both the 10,000 and 5,000 metres at the European Championships in Zurich and one German newspaper named her as 'one to watch'. How right they were ! Up first, the 10,000 metres was a relatively slow run race and the runners were bunched for much of the time. Jo stayed back and ran wide for long spells before moving up in the last 3 or 4 laps and staying with the leading group as it gradually pulled clear. With 3 laps to go, 5 were still in contention and by the bell for the last lap it was 3. Now Jo strode passed her French challenger, Calvin, and headed off for the tape. Every time Calvin closed up, Jo kicked away and, quite magnificently, she stormed clear on the home straight to win GOLD for the first time.

No competitor in recent times has ever deserved victory more than Jo yesterday. She always gives 100% every time she competes and she's been a wonderful stalwart of British athletics for nearly 20 years. She's now one of the best ever over-40 runners in the history of modern athletics and one wonders how long she will continue. With her getting better and better as the years pass, might we even see her at the Rio Olympics in 2016 ? On yesterday's form, there's no reason why not.

Not only is Jo a great athlete but, on the evidence of her television interviews and what everyone who knows her says, she's also a truly lovely person. Overall, she really is a SUPERMUM !

GERMANY WIN; BRAZIL, SPAIN AND ENGLAND REGROUP.

The humiliation of Brazil at the FIFA World Cup in their own country was hardly unexpected after their first match or two. At no point did they appear to be the dominant force of previous years and their only outstanding player was the brilliant Neymar; too many of the rest were clearly make-weights, with the likes of Fred and Joe completely out of their depths.

Inevitably, the winners were a well organised team, not without some fine players but with none of the hype attaching to the few superstars on show. Ronaldo had departed at the group stage and, although Messi made it to the final, his few flashes of genius could not make up for the general paucity of greatness in his Argentinian side. In the end, Germany, with a well drilled squad and 2 or 3 high class players, won the day, and deservedly so. That said, the tournament was generally of a low standard and few will remember much about it in a year or two, except for the drubbings handed out to the hosts by Germany and Holland.

Where all this leaves Brazil, Spain and England is a good question. As the reigning champions, Spain came to the competition with high hopes that were smashed to pieces in their first match. Thereafter, they did nothing to repair a shattered reputation and now have to rebuild. Brazil, as hosts and the world's top footballing nation, expected to win but were, instead, humiliated. England, ............... what can one say ? Expectations were deliberately played down but, even so, their performances were pretty lamentable and their much vaunted stars were shown to be men of clay.

No doubt, after much huffing and puffing, there'll be plans put in place but nothing is likely to change. Teams such as the Manchesters, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and a few others will continue to ignore home-grown players in favour of foreign superstars and the national team will continue to have a dearth of real talent. Major club competitions and money will continue to dominate and England's quest for international glory will continue with little chance of success.

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose !

JIMMY ANDERSON, BATTING SUPERSTAR !

After his desolation at the end of the Test Match against Sri Lanka, it was marvellous to see Jimmy Anderson do so well at Trent Bridge yesterday. His record last wicket partnership with Joe Root was just one of the plethora of records that were broken, mostly by Anderson, as he drove, pulled and nicked his way to a career best score of 81.

Against Sri Lanka at Leeds last month, Anderson batted for approaching 1½ hours without scoring, but in the process taking England to within one ball of saving the match. Batting with Moeen Ali, he helped to add 21 for the last wicket while keeping the enemy at bay for more than 20 overs before falling to the penultimate ball of the match; his despair was evident for all to see.

Yesterday against India, Anderson joined Joe Root with England again in a perilous position, 159 runs behind and with only wicket remaining. Slowly but surely, the pair consolidated, built and eventually took control. Their partnership passed 50, then 100; the Indian lead, which had looked frighteningly big, shrank, becoming less with every passing over. The stand passed the highest ever recorded for the 10th wicket by 2 Englishmen, the previous best being the 130 amassed by R E 'Tip' Foster and Wilfred Rhodes against the Australians at Sydney in 1903; Anderson reached the first half-century of his career and then passed the previous highest score by an English number 11, the 59 scored by John Snow during his famous stand with Ken Higgs against the West Indies in 1966. The partnership reached 150 and then passed the previous world record for a last wicket stand, the 163 achieved by Philip Hughes and Ashton Agar for the Australians at this very ground last year. By this point, they'd eclipsed the Indian score and taken England into an improbable lead, yet still they marched on.

Root passed 150 and Anderson's innings became the longest ever by a number 11 batsman in Test cricket. The partnership approached the 200 mark but, just as anything seemed possible, Anderson finally fell, caught at slip, and an incredible partnership came to an end at 198 and after 230 minutes. Anderson's 81 is the third highest score ever by a number 11 in Test cricket while Joe Root had quietly accumulated 154 not out in a stay of more than 6½ hours which had brought England from the brink of disaster to a position of potential strength.

After nearly 4 hours of batting heroics, Anderson then had to come out and open the bowling for India's second innings. Although he didn't take a wicket, his return of 9 overs for 21 runs was no mean achievement for a man who must have been exhausted, mentally and physically. Well done, Jimmy, you're a true star !

NEMAR INJURY SHOWS FOOTBALL AT ITS WORST.

Some call football 'The Beautiful Game. After the appalling physical assaults carried out in yesterday's match between Brazil and Colombia, it's hard to see it as anything but organised warfare.

Throughout the match, I can't call it a game because there was little sport in it, both sides did their best to cripple their opposition. For the Brazilians, their principal target was the excellent new Colombian star, James Rodriguez, while the Colombians aimed their worst atrocities at Brazil's true superstar, Neymar. The referee and his assistants, by and large, stood by and let the increasingly vicious assaults go unchallenged barring the award of a few free kicks, the first yellow card only being shown well into the second half for a stupid but harmless lunge by the Brazilian captain, Thiago Silva. Meanwhile, the rest of the warriors kicked lumps out of each other, culminating in Colombian Zuniga leaping at Neymar from behind and quite deliberately sticking his knee into the base of the Brazilian's spine. While Neymar lay on the ground in genuine pain, the offender walked away scot free. Neymar received a broken vertebra and a long time on the sidelines - this is an injury which may well see him out of action for the rest of the year, or even longer.

If Zuniga's offence had been committed on a British street, he'd have been arrested, charged with assault and causing grievous bodily harm; quite probably, he'd have received a prison sentence. Similar action could easily have come the way of some of the Brazilians for their attacks on Rodriguez. However, the match officials did almost nothing and the response from the commentary team and 'experts' in the studio was muted to say the least. None of them saw anything other than normal footballing activity, which must say a lot for their warped view of normality.

If this is sport, I'm a Dutchman. FIFA are presiding over one of the poorest displays of sporting activity I've witnessed in a long time, while subjecting viewers to some shocking scenes of violence. One 5 year old I spoke to yesterday even believed that the purpose of football was to kick your opponents on their knees; now, where did he get that idea from ? Television programmes which include similar scenes of violence are prohibited from our screens until after 9pm; films carry warning notices and the impressionable young are refused entry to cinemas. Football, with all of its associated mayhem is immune to these strictures because of its position as our 'national sport'. Phooey. Played like this, it's no more a sport than was medieval jousting, in which the objective was to beat your opponent into submission by any means available.

Luis Suarez has quite rightly been banned for his animalistic behaviour and yet the thugs who took part in yesterday evening's match go free. Neymar is in hospital and who knows what injuries were suffered by the rest of the players. Suarez can rightly feel aggrieved that he's been singled out in an unfair way, notwithstanding that his actions were inexcusable; they were no more inexcusable than was the violence seen on a football field in Brazil last night.

FIFA has the power to review on-field incidents after matches and yet it rarely does. In Rugby Union, officials take such matters seriously and frequently review players' actions after games, often handing out significant bans for incidents which were missed by the match referee and his assistants. Why does not football do this ? So far, this World Cup has been more about warfare than about sport. There's been little great play and much overly-aggressive interaction between participants; there's been a lot of very poor refereeing and very little discipline has been imposed on matches. If FIFA doesn't do something soon, their 'Beautiful Game' will become no more than legalised thuggery and someone may well be really hurt or even killed.

MURRAY CRASHES OUT; NOW ALL CHEER FOR ROGER !

Andy Murray's exit from this year's Wimbledon championships was a clear reminder that while he is very, very good, he is not the best. He wasn't only beaten by Grigor Dimitrov, he was ignominiously thumped.

Of course, he's not the only big name to have a bit of a bad time this year, with Rafael Nadal also finding it tough going and losing to a largely unknown 19 year old Australian. What makes Nadal's exit less significant in some ways than Murray's is that he's already accumulated 14 Grand Slam titles to Murray's two, and grass is definitely not his surface.

In the men's draw, we're now down to the last four and it's an unusual bunch. After several years of Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Murray making this part of almost every major championship their own, only Djokovic and the Grand Old Man, Federer, remain, to fight it out with a couple of young upstarts in Dimitrov and Milos Raonic.

Who will make it to the final ? For what it's worth, I can't see Dimitrov troubling Djokovic but I can see Federer having difficulty with Raonic. While 'my man' is Federer, I can't see passed a Djokovic-Raonic final, with Djokovic eventually winning his second Wimbledon crown. With any luck, that prediction has now cursed the other three and Roger will make it 8 titles - wouldn't that be something !

WILLIAMS SISTERS - TRULY GREAT CHAMPIONS.

The wonderful Williams sisters are both out of Wimbledon earlier than for many years. Venus lost an epic match against the 2011 champion, Petra Kvitova yesterday, and Serena, the reigning champion, has just been sent home by the 25th seed, French woman Alize Cornet. Both gave their all and both lost only after a tremendous struggle.

However, what strikes me most about both defeats is the manner in which they were received. Both young women must have been absolutely distraught and wanted to get away as quickly as possible and yet both made a point of waiting for their opponents and walking off of the court together; so many others march off within seconds of their loss and pay no attention to their vanquishers.

Few other competitors treat the Wimbledon Centre Court motto so perfectly. Everyone who walks through the doors sees lines from the poem *If* by Rudyard Kipling, undoubtedly one of the greatest pieces of English literature, which say :

"If you can meet with triumph and disaster,

And treat those two imposters just the same"

Venus and Serena have been truly great champions. They have also been, and continue to be, truly great sportsmen. Their behaviour in defeat demonstrates just how great they are and it will be a sad day when they decide to hang up their tennis shoes.

SUAREZ SPONSORS GNASH THEIR TEETH.

So FIFA has deliberated and decided that Luis Suarez should be free to bite again from the end of October. Does this make sense ?

If he'd committed his offence on the street, a third offence, mind you, he'd be facing a probable prison sentence and psychiatric treatment. Instead, FIFA, in it's wisdom, thinks that a 4 month ban will suffice and will, presumably, bring this animal to heel. Of course, they've been constrained by the various factional interests that they serve, but it seems likely that a far more telling blow may be dealt by the sponsors and advertisers who are now considering whether Suarez is a suitable person with whom to be associated.

The evil of football is that major figures can, and do, get away with almost anything because of the money that is involved in their employment. It's only when the flow of money is threatened that anyone takes action. With luck, pressure from a few major sponsors may do what FIFA has signally failed to do - impose a real sanction on this man.

LUIS SUAREZ : A HUNGRY MAN ?

Has Suarez done it again ? That is the question now haunting football.

Way back in the mists of time, actually just over a year ago, Luis Suarez was seen to bite an opponent. After an inquiry, the FA decided on a 10 match ban for the Uruguayan, their decision no doubt influenced to some degree by the fact that he had been banned for 7 matches by the Dutch football authorities after a similar incident in November 2010. Now, he's being accused of biting an Italian player, Giorgio Chiellini, in yesterday's final game in World Cup group D and FIFA are investigating.

What the outcome of FIFA's enquiries will be is anyone's guess; they may try to brush it all under the carpet to avoid tarnishing the tournament too badly, or they may land on Suarez like the proverbial 'tonne of bricks' in order to demonstrate how tough they are. Whatever their approach, if Suarez is found to have bitten a third player surely his career should be brought to an end. One such incident may be considered the result of hot-headedness, a second put down to treatable mental instability, but 3 surely indicates a man completely devoid of normal human decency and morality.

If, and I emphasise *IF*, he's found guilty of a third offence, his continued presence in the Premier League with Liverpool, notwithstanding his brilliance as a player, must surely be an impossibility, while which other great clubs would wish to spend the suggested £70m on buying a player with such cannibalistic tendencies ?

MOEEN SHOWS THE REST HOW IT'S DONE.

Despite losing to Sri Lanka in the Headingley Test match, England did, eventually, show a bit of fight thanks to the heroics of Moeen Ali. After dominating the match for the first 3 days, England did their best to throw their advantage away through some unimaginative captaincy and poor bowling, followed by a pathetic start to their second innings. At the end of Day 4, they were staring defeat in the face and no one gave them much hope of surviving g beyond the early afternoon of the final day.

In the event, and helped by a bit of rain, they made it to the second last ball of the match. From 57-5, Moeen Ali, a newcomer with a beard that would have made the great 'WG' envious, batted throughout the day, nearly 6½ hours, and so nearly saved the day for his side. His grit and determination put the more senior batsmen in the team to shame, as did the guts shown by Jimmy Anderson during their 83 minute and 20 over last wicket partnership of 21. Anderson's '0' was a tremendous effort and his awful despair at his dismissal was gut-wrenching; it was impossible not to have felt tremendous sympathy for him.

As for Ali, his 108* was an innings of epic proportions. This not so young man (he's already 27), had a very successful year with the bat in 2013 and has now justified his place in the England team as a batsman, though not necessarily as the spinning all rounder that is really needed. If he could develop his bowling talents a little, he could make himself secure for the next 5 or more years, though it's a big *if*.

WHITHER BRITISH SPORT ?

There seem to be very few sports in which the British excel. Apart from the rather exclusive pursuits of rowing, cycling and equestrian, what else are we much good at ?  Certainly not football, our tennis, golf, rugby and cricket are shaky, and our athletics is pretty much 'hit or miss'. Why ?

Quite simply put, we're decadent. In the past, we tended to dominate the world at most things; today, we're rather old and tired, added to which we now have a population which includes a huge number of immigrants whose first loyalty is to their countries of origin. Far too many of our youngsters look for 'money through celebrity' rather than from actually doing anything of note, and there's no hunger for success at anything which requires effort. Finally, our education system has been utterly destroyed by successive governments ever since 1945, concepts such as 'losing' being considered unacceptable and most schools having done away with any serious sporting activities in favour of a token bit of 'PE' or, if the girls prefer it, dance. We no longer produce athletes at our schools and rely on parents to fill in the gap. inevitably, the only parents who do are those with time, money, enthusiasm and, generally, a bit of intelligence; the result is rowers, cyclists and the occasional tennis or golf star and the odd racing driver.

Is there any hope of this changing ? Probably not, unless the powers that be get away from their idiotic notions about equality and fairness. Sport is about winning and losing, as is life. When the state stops providing support for every loser, we'll start winning at sport; until then, we can't expect to win very much as we'll always be beaten by those who are hungrier for victory. In football, as long as the likes of Rooney are paid £15 million a year by their club, why should they care much about international success ? Individuals will always emerge in some sports but for the main team games we will continue to struggle and in the rest we'll have trouble finding more than the occasional Andy Murray, while minnows like Belgium and Uruguay will outdo us year after year.

ALL BLACKS AND WALLABIES SHOW HOW IT'S DONE !

Oh Dear, oh dear !

Not only our football but now our Rugby too is broken. Following hard on the heels of the England football team's depressing performance in their World Cup the Rugby team touring New Zealand received a sound thrashing at the hands of the almighty All Blacks.

The first of three tests produced a close match with the home side winning only in the last minute or 2 and the visitors being genuinely unlucky to lose. The second match saw a less assured performance from the English and a rather flattering defeat by only one point. The third match, yesterday, saw virtual annihilation. England were blown away in the first half and never recovered; they looked jaded and out of their depth as the All Blacks ran in 4 first-half tries to lead 29-6 at the break, the match all-but over by then. England did put up a better showing in the second half but the suspicion must be that the home side knew they'd done the job and could back off. Even then, the best England could achieve was a 7-7 outcome for the half and a 36-13 thrashing overall. Success in next year's

World Cup seems a long way off.

Not that England were alone in finding the southern hemisphere too hot too handle. The French, too, suffered a beating, 39-13, at the hands of the Wallabies although the Welsh did rather better against South Africa, only losing by 1 point and to a last minute penalty try at that. Nonetheless, with little more than a year to go, the northern nations look to be the underdogs as the 'Big 3' from the south gird up their loins for the fight.

ENGLAND'S WORLD CUP WOES ARE NEARLY OVER.

Excellent ! England are out, so now perhaps the 'experts' will start talking some sense about English football, whatever the result against Costa Rica next Tuesday.

The Premier League may be one of the best leagues in the world, but it's populated by so many foreign players that to equate it's success with English football is a nonsense. While there are many world class players in the league, few if any of them are English and the poor showing of the national team at the World Cup is a clear consequence of this. The way that foreign owners with vast fortunes now infest the Premier League and use it as a means of self-aggrandisement inevitably reduces the opportunity for young home-grown players, as owners prefer to buy-in expensive but proven players rather than develop their own talent. Unless this trend is reversed, England will continue to be bit-part participants for many years to come.

The sad truth is the likes of Rooney and Gerrard never have been 'world class', whatever the media hype around them has been. Hart is a somewhat shaky goalkeeper and the likes of Baines, Cahill, Henderson, Johnson et al are nothing like as good as they're painted. Sturridge without Suarez alongside him is only half a threat and the rest are a mixed bag. Welbeck and Barkley have yet to prove themselves at the highest level, while Lallana's elevation to the national side smacks of desperation as does that of Lambert, a man who's never even been in contention before. Jagielka is possibly the best of a poor bunch. The one bright spot has been Sterling, but a couple of good games doesn't make a world class player, though our media will undoubtedly build him up to superstar status.

It is not the manager's fault, we simply don't have the players. There's no immediate answer and the European Championships in 2016 may well be even worse for us; after that, it'll be another new manager, more encouraging words and on to 2018. God Help Us.

ENGLAND CRASH AND BURN.

True to form, England are on the point of elimination for the football World Cup, while having won the war of media drivel quite comfortably.

Indeed, if there was a medal for talking a good game, England would be champions year after year. The pundits on television, radio and in print never stop telling us how good our players are, though, for once, they did not raise expectations as high as they might have done. Just as well.

Yesterday's game against Uruguay, a nation with little more than one fifteenth of our population, produced excessive chat about when Rooney would score and many shouts of "Better" from one of the commentators, but little real commentary. In the end, England's shortcomings were exposed - failure to take advantage of good positions, an ability to ignore dangerous ones - and the one world class player on the pitch, Luis Suarez, made them pay. In truth, I don't think England played badly, but they simply don't have players of the necessary calibre. Sterling, Sturridge, Cahill, Rooney and Henderson all had their moments but Hart looked out of his depth, the defence was shaky and the mid-field did too little.

All hope now rests on Italy beating both Costa Rica and Uruguay while, even then, England would have to beat Cost Rica by enough of a margin to go through on goal difference. It could happen, but it's not a gamble to bet one's house on. Of course, the pundits have been having a field day, discussing what went wrong, who else should have been in the team, what could have been done differently and whether or not the manager has a future. Given the limited choice of limited players, it's hard to see any changes that would have made much difference, and what rationale there could be for sacking the manager escapes me. As with any side, the manager needs time to assess his players and build a team - Hodgson has had far too little time to do either and must surely be allowed to carry on to the next World Cup in 2018 although, at 64,  he was far too old when appointed in May 2012.

If England are ever to climb the heights again, they need certain things. Firstly, a younger manager who can be given at least 10 years to build his team. Secondly, many more young English players appearing regularly in the Premier League and playing at the top level; the prominence of foreign imports has to be reduced. Thirdly, less hype and celebrity status for these overpaid prima donnas. What chance is there of all, or any, of this occurring ?

ENGLAND'S WORLD CUP GLOOM.

Almost before it's even begun, it looks as though England's world cup bid may be over. Last night's defeat against Italy makes it very difficult for 'our boys' to make it through to the last 16 and an exit at the Group stage looks a distinct possibility, especially after Uruguay's failure against the supposed minnows from Costa Rica.

England tried hard but were simply not good enough. The much lauded talents of Gerrard and Rooney failed to materialise and while they huffed and puffed they found it impossible to blow down the Italian house. In fact, after the first few minutes, England created few truly threatening positions; their goal was a great piece of flowing football but other opportunities were wasted by poor play in and around their opponents penalty area. Raheem Sterling was their outstanding player by a country mile, while no one else achieved much of note. The truth is that we have few, if any, world class players and the sooner we accept this, the better.

Oh for the finishing of Arjen Robben or Robin van Persie. These two showed how it should be done with magnificent performances in the match between Holland and Spain. Current champions, Spain, were simply blown away by some superb play from the Dutch and, in particular, by some brilliant finishing from Robben and van Persie. These two are WORLD CLASS, Gerrard, Rooney and the rest are not and never will be; good, yes, but World Class, not a chance.

For England, all now rests on Thursday's game against Uruguay, a side who will be equally desperate for a result. It's likely to be a cracker and defeat will almost certainly mean an early flight home, but for which side ?

CANADIAN GRAND PRIX DELIVERS THE GOODS.

How nice to see a Formula One race with drivers who appreciate each other's talents without enmity.

Following the recent antics of Lewis Hamilton, being a very childish and miserable loser, today's Canadian Grand Prix, a terrific race by the way, has been won by the 'new boy' Daniel Ricciardo. The prize giving demonstrated all of the best of real sportsmanship - Ricciardo oh-so-happy but without any attitude, Vettel so pleased for his team mate and with no animosity, and Rosberg thanking his lucky stars that he'd managed to finish at all. The champagne flowed with genuine enthusiasm and pleasure from all concerned.

Compared with the recent Hamilton shows of puerile petulance, this was a return to the real spirit of this great and dangerous sport. Hamilton may be a fine driver but he's not a good sportsman; Ricciardo, Vettel and Rosberg appear to be exactly what Hamilton is not - both great athletes and great sportsmen.  

More power to their elbows.

NADAL - KING OF CLAY.

And so the French Open Tennis Championships are over after 2 incredible singles finals.

On Saturday, Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep fought an amazing battle before Sharapova came out as the winner. After just over 3 hours of brutal conflict, the giant Russian beat the comparatively diminutive Romanian, more by sheer willpower than anything else. It was only during the presentations that Sharapova's true physical presence became apparent, as she stood alongside the great Chris Evert; Sharapova was revealed as being at least half a foot taller and wider than the champion of yesteryear and her legs were like tree trunks beside those of the 'tiny' Evert. That said, Halep, while lacking inches in height, lacked none of the bulk of modern players and she will be a genuine contender for Grand Slam titles, and the number 1 spot, for many years to come.

The men's final, between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovich was almost a let down, though another amazing match. After winning the first set and looking likely to give the champion a real run for his money, Djokovich almost faded away, losing the next 3 sets and rarely looking like a probable winner. He had his moments but it was Nadal who held the whip hand, increasingly so after he levelled the match by winning the second set. Nadal simply ground his opponent into the red clay of Roland Garros.

Nadal is, without doubt, the greatest clay court player ever. Throughout his career, clay has been his surface and he has been virtually unbeatable, whoever the opposition. His ninth French Open title brings his overall Grand Slam total to 14 wins and he threatens to attack Roger Federer's record of 17; will he get there ? If he does, will it make him the greatest player ever ? In my view, no. Federer won 4 Australian, 5 USA and 7 Wimbledon to go with his 1 victory in France; Nadal has 2 Wimbledon, 2 US and 1 Australian alongside his 9 French titles, his record being heavily dominated by his own domination on clay. Federer won 3 of the major events in one season on three occasion, Nadal has managed this once; indeed, but for Nadal, it seems likely that Federer would have achieved multiple "Grand Slams", winning all 4 events in a calendar year. Between 2004 and 2007, Federer won 11 of the 16 Grand Slam events on offer, and was twice the runner up to Nadal in Paris. Nadal's history has no such sequence of success, his overall record being heavily biased by his astonishing success at one tournament.

One thing that is clear is that, good though he is, Andy Murray is not quite in the same league as today's 'Big 2'. That doesn't mean he won't retain his Wimbledon crown but it certainly isn't going to be easy. On grass, even the old man, Federer, comes back into the equation and the big servers will also have their say. Bring it on !

MAURESMO TO WIN MURRAY SLAMS ?

Andy Murray has appointed Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach, replacing Ivan Lendll.

The question has to be "Why" ? Murray, as a double Grand Slam winner, needs little more than advice from the side lines on opponents vulnerabilities, his own style of play against specific individuals and a bit of psychological boosting. The first 2 he surely has from his existing team of coaches and helpers, the last is what he employed Lendll for. Lendll, of course, was a multiple finalist before winning a Grand Slam event, as was Murray, but he did go on to win 8 such events, making him one of the most successful players in tennis history. There was some logic to his appointment as Murray's coach.

Mauresmo, very good player though she was and a World number 1, struggled mightily when it came to winning Grand Slams. After reaching the final of the Australian Open when aged 19, Mauresmo had to wait another 7 years before she again experienced a Grand Slam singles final, finally winning the Australian championship in 2006 when Justine Henin was forced to retire through injury. That year, she also succeeded in winning the Wimbledon title, also against Henin, though on this occasion it was a full three set match. Nonetheless, Mauresmo's Grand Slam record is hardly that impressive and she has no obvious track record as a coach since her retirement in 2009. She did, admittedly, coach Marion Bartoli prior to her 2013 Wimbledon triumph but only became Bartoli's coach shortly before the tournament. Her other charges, Michel Llodra and Victoria Azarenka, were not noticeably improved by her presence.

Mauresmo has no personal understanding of the male game or psyche, and has little personal success at Grand Slam level; she was considered to be psychologically frail when it came to important matches. What does Murray think that Mauresmo can bring to his game ? How can she possibly be the right choice ? Or am I simply missing the point ?

IS QATAR WORLD CUP DEAD ?

No one in their right mind can surely have thought that the award of the 2022 football World Cup to the stupidly hot and incredibly minor country of Qatar was anything but suspicious. The allegations now published by the Sunday Times, to the effect that large bribes were paid by the Qatari representative to FIFA in order to secure the tournament for that country, add fuel to the already lively flames.

Whether or not there has been corruption, the stink is there. The evidence is mounting that there may well be more than simple stink. There is also the lunacy of having to play a World Cup in the middle of most European domestic seasons as that is the only time when temperatures in Qatar are even close to what might be considered reasonable for running around and kicking a ball.

Qatar never should have been awarded the tournament. However, there now has to be a worry that the latest revelations are part of an orchestrated scheme to have it taken away from them. While this seems unlikely, whether or not it is, the allegations have to be investigated; regardless of the outcome, the tournament should be moved and Sepp Blatter, the longstanding boss of FIFA must finally go. His number is up.

HAMILTON AND McILROY : CHILDREN, NOT MEN.

Why are young British sportsmen often so puerile ?

In the last few days, Lewis Hamilton, undoubtedly a very good driver, has shown the petulance one might expect from a 10 year old. His appalling behaviour during the 4 days of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend showed that this spoilt child has no grace or sportsmanship. Whether or not his teammate, Nico Rosberg, deliberately ran off of the circuit in qualifying, Hamilton's subsequent show of sullenness and irritability was childish in the extreme. This man needs to grow up.

Over at Wentworth, another young man did rather better but still demonstrated a lack of maturity. Rory McIlroy had apparently been planning marriage to his girlfriend of a couple of years, Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, nad the couple had even sent out wedding invitations. Suddenly, McIlroy, who is hardly a child at 25, decided that he "was not ready for marriage", this after he and Wozniacki had been together for close to 3 years. How is it that living together for 3 years had not prepared him for marriage ? Clearly and in common with much of today's youth, he has no understanding or desire for commitment or responsibility and prefers to be footloose and fancy free, a state much more suited to a selfish child or teenager than a man in his mid-twenties.

While McIlroy put his issues behind him and won the Wentworth golf tournament, Wozniacki seems to be devastated and was considering pulling out of the French Open Tennis tournament; it appears that she's changed her mind on this score but I don't give much for her chances of success.

The behaviour of Hamilton and McIlroy shows just how low modern youth has sunk. These spoilt kids, like far too many of their British contemporaries, never grow up. Until they do, they will never be true world beaters, just selfish, sulky children.

DANIEL LEVY : TOTTENHAM'S NEMESIS.

Clive Allen, a former player and coach for Tottenham Hotspur FC, is quoted today as saying that the club's chairman, Daniel Levy, is an "incredible" businessman but is "not a football man". I've seen similar comments elsewhere.

Sadly, I think Mr Allen has got it wrong. Not only is Levy "not a football man", he's an appalling businessman. Tottenham are not a poor club and they have the backing of a reclusive billionaire owner, Joe Lewis, whose 'ENIC' investment company bought a majority shareholding in 2001, when Levy replaced Alan Sugar as Chairman. Since then, the club has had a succession of managers, both 'permanent' and 'temporary', and has won nothing of real note; it's one League Cup victory in 2008 can hardly be called major silverware.

The sad truth is that Levy's understanding of football is poor and his understanding of its management even poorer. Within a month of taking control, Levy sacked the then manager, George Graham and has since appointed and sacked 7 more; additionally, the team has had to endure 3 spells of acting managership, 2 with David Pleat and one with Clive Allen. With the ludicrous sacking of Tim Sherwood after only 5 months in post, Tottenham face yet another management upheaval in advance of next season.

At the same time that he's been busy sacking managers, Levy's also been busy making sure that those same managers lost their best players and were given unsatisfactory replacements. Carrick, Modric, Berbatov and Bale all exited, admittedly for large amounts of cash, but the cash has then been squandered on a mish-mash of players who have almost all failed to make the grade. In the last year, Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela were bought for a combined total of around £60m, neither proving much use to the team. Etienne Capoue and Nacer Chadli have hardly played and Paulinho has faded somewhat after a bright start. Only Christian Eriksen has really been a success although Vlad Chiriches has certainly had his moments. The final result is that a team full of expensive foreign stars, and peppered with some excellent home-grown talent too, has been slaughtered by the top sides and has struggled to beat the minnows.

Given the length of time he's been in the job, one would have thought that Levy would, by now, understand that managers need time to build their own sides; a few months or even a couple of years are simply not enough to mould success from a disparate group. Sadly, he has not learnt this and his shameful treatment of the hapless Sherwood is just the latest in a long line of appalling acts.

That he does not understand football is a given. If changing manager every year or 2, selling your best players and buying others for whom the manager has no desire is good business, then he's a good businessman. I see it as wasting vast amounts of money on paying off a succession of managers, selling off the family jewels and wasting the proceeds on buying into speculative ventures that usually fail. Looked at in these terms, Levy has been an abysmal failure as a businessman. He has ruined a great club and it's time he went.

BBC SPORTS' COVERAGE - IS THERE ANY, EXCEPT FOOTBALL ?

The BBC seems to believe that 'sport' = football.

Today's 'sports' slot on the Radio 4 programme 'Today' at 8:30ish gave several minutes to a discussion about the expected omission of one Ashley Cole from England's world cup football squad and gave very little attention to anything else. A few seconds were devoted to telling listeners that Lewis Hamilton had won a grand prix and Martin Kaymer a golf tournament. The only other item was the utterly pointless racing tips, though with no mention of any racing results.

Our national summer sport, cricket, was not mentioned even though the latest round of county championship matches started yesterday. Nothing was said regarding other performers behind Hamilton and Kaymer in their respective events, and nothing was said about tennis, in which there had been a significant final played on Sunday. There was no coverage of the rugby union play-off matches, nor of the rugby league 'Super league'; the UK athletic championships. Cycling, in which there is a major event taking place, was ignored.

Once upon a time, the BBC covered a wide variety of sports in excellent fashion. Today, they seem to have given up covering most sports and even given up reporting on all but football, unless, of course, a British competitor happens to be doing well. How Martin Kaymer, a German, managed to get a mention is a bit of a mystery though he is a citizen of the EU, so perhaps this helped to shoe-horn him in.

Apart from events which they cover in detail, fewer and fewer every year, the BBC gives no coverage worth the name to any sport except football. Cricket is almost forgotten even though it is our national sport. The replacement for the old 'teletext' is so poor in its coverage of most sports as to be useless - it is updated rarely and, again, devotes almost all of its energies to football.

It really is time for this once great organisation to be switched off or, at least, to have to fight for viewers as its competitors do. The licence fee has to go, even if the BBC does not.

MARK SELBY - WORTHY CHAMPION.

In an absorbing final, Mark Selby fought his way back from a 5 frame deficit to beat defending champion, Ronnie O'Sullivan 18-14. Early on, O'Sullivan seemed likely to run away with the crown for a third successive year as a weary looking Selby proved unable to construct any meaningful breaks. Somehow, Selby did cling on and even won the last 2 frames of the first day to trail by only 7-10 overnight.

On day 2, Selby was a different man and it was O'Sullivan who appeared on the edge. Selby won the first 4 frames of the day for a run of 6 altogether and a lead of 11-10. Although O'Sullivan drew level again, some uncharacteristic misses allowed Selby to pull away again as he grew in authority with every passing frame. In the end, it was almost a comfortable victory.

Selby is a worthy champion and also regained the top spot in the world rankings. Now all he has to do is to retain the title next year, something which no one has ever done at the Crucible following their first win there. I wouldn't bet against him.

ELENA BALTACHA TAKEN BEFORE HER TIME.

The death of Elena Baltacha makes this a sad day indeed.

Baltacha was a fine tennis player who battled ill health for most of her career. Despite this, she became British number 1 and rose to gain a place amongst the world's top 50 women players. While she was no world beater, her powerful style of play caused many upsets and she was always an exciting player to watch.

Ill health finally ground her down and she retired from competition in 2013 to concentrate on her tennis academy and family life. Sadly, she was destined to enjoy neither for very long and the liver cancer with which she was only diagnosed a few weeks ago has claimed her life at the tender age of 30.

The world of tennis, indeed the world itself, is much poorer for her passing.

CURLING - OUR NEW NATIONAL SPORT !

Most of the 'Winter Olympics' leaves me cold but Curling is different. A few years ago, millions of people stayed up until the small hours to watch Rhona Martin and her team win Gold by beating Switzerland in the Curling final in Salt Lake City. Suddenly, a pretty unknown sport took centre stage in the British psyche.

Today, another British women's team, though all actually Scots, took on another Swiss team, this time for the Bronze medal in Sochi. Defeat by the all-conquering Canadians in the semi-final was a huge disappointment but our girls picked themselves up, held their nerve and won a tense match to clinch the medal. At an average age of only 23, Anna Sloan, Vicky Adams, Claire Hamilton and 'skip' Eve Muirhead, did themselves proud and, tomorrow, the British men's Curling team play for the Gold medal against Canada after beating world champions Sweden in a nerve jangling semi-final. 

Who would ever have thought that 'Bowls on ice' would be so enthralling ? ! 

SIX NATIONS STARTS TO BOIL !

Now that the 6-Nations competition is well and truly underway, the teams are beginning to sort themselves out.

Week 1 kicked off with a feisty Italy giving Wales a bit of scare in Cardiff. The home side had built a healthy half-time lead before the visitors roared back and the final score of 23-15 was a bit closer than the Welsh would have liked or expected. This was a decent performance from Italy, who showed more mobility and attacking intent than previously, and a rather poor one from Wales. Keeping their title will not be easy if this is going to be their standard of play.

The weekend's second game was in Paris where England, full of expectations, were the visitors. Shock, horror ! Lax play from the start saw France score a try within 30 seconds and add another after little more than a quarter of an hour; a couple of French penalties to one for England saw the home side lead 16-3 and things were looking bad for the visitors. From there on, it was all change. England began to gain some control and a try by Mike Brown reduced the deficit to 8-16 at half time. The second half was all England and the score line eventually reached an almost unassailable 24-19 before Fickou broke the English line in the dying moments of the match and Machenaud gave the home side victory with his conversion. 26-24 to France, but England will rue that first 20 minutes.

The final game was Ireland taking on Scotland in Dublin. The Scots, as always, had talked a good game beforehand but the reality was a little less good. They put in lots of effort but lacked penetration, while Ireland were solid and clinical. Scotland's line out was poor and their handling erratic as Ireland carved holes in their defence, with the imaginative Sexton making causing havoc. The visitors did have some spells of possession and never gave up, but they were simply never able to be a real threat to a better side and the final result of 28-6 to Ireland was no more than the home side deserved.

The second week began where the first had left off, in Dublin where Wales were now the visitors. As reigning 6-Nations champions much had been expected of the Welsh but, as in week 1, they were disappointing and the Irish were excellent. Again, it was Jonny Sexton who was the inspirational figure for the home side and Ireland were never really troubled by a dysfunctional Welsh side. Although their defence was solid, they offered little in attack and rarely threatened the Irish line. Conversely, the Irish pack was immense and caused havoc in the Welsh defence, Chris Henry going over for the first try after a sensational driving maul. Ireland continued to dominate, Sexton kicking 4 penalties, before his replacement, Paddy Jackson, scored a second try under the posts with a  couple of minutes to go. Wales' only consolation was a solitary penalty from Halfpenny and the final score of 26-3 served notice on the rest that this Irish side are serious title contenders.

Next up was the Calcutta Cup match, this year at Murrayfield. The Scots had, again, talked a good game in the run-up, but they had little to offer in the match itself. Playing on an appalling pitch and with the rain falling for much of the time, England withstood some early Scottish pressure and gradually took control. As in the previous week, Scotland could not be faulted for effort but their misfiring line out and the enormous penalty count against them left them with no hope. England ground out a comfortable victory with Danny Care at the heart of the action; Mike Brown and Luther Burrell scored tries, as they'd done against France, Billy Vunipola caused all sorts of problems and Dylan Hartley and Courtney Laws ensured a perfect line out record while they were both on. The final result of 20-0 to the English was probably not a true reflection of the visitor's dominance, particularly in the second half, but the real test for them will come at Twickenham in a fortnight when their opponents will be the Irish.

The final match of the weekend was in Paris where France entertained Italy. The opening minutes were all France but other than 2 missed penalties, they had nothing to show for it. Italy defended stoutly and began to come more into the match but it was scoreless until close to the half hour mark; 3 penalties in quick succession and another for France just before the break made it 9-3 to the home side and left the visitors wondering what they'd done to be behind. The second half was a different story. From the off, France stormed into their opponents and a they had a try in each corner within the first 5 minutes. Another try, from an interception, effectively ended the match as a contest as the home side led 30-3 after little more than 50 minutes. Italy continued to defend well and pressed hard in the last 20 minutes, during which the French had a yellow and red card and the Italians a red. Italy almost had a try and did get one with little more than 3 minutes to go, but it was all rather academic. Victory to France by 30-10 left Italy fearing another wooden spoon while France can still dream of a Grand Slam.

PIETERSEN - GONE AT LAST.

Kevin Pietersen's international career is over, at last.

That he has been an exciting batsman who could win matches on his own is undeniable; he was clearly one of the best batsmen England has had over the last 50 years and has become well known even outside of his sport. Thereby is the problem.

Just like the superstars of some other sports - George Best and Paul Gascoigne immediately spring to mind - Pietersen has been destroyed by his own ego and personality, by the very celebrity status which he earned from his sporting prowess. In his own mind, he became more important than the game he played, or his team, or his country. It is clear, and has been for some years, that Pietersen has been a disruptive influence in the dressing room; in the end, even his team mates had had enough of their maverick colleague and he had to go.

Some commentators are bemoaning his departure and wondering where England will find his replacement. The simple answer is that no one is irreplaceable and even a slightly less talented player will be a more than adequate replacement if he shows a better attitude towards his team and its needs. Pietersen is far from being the greatest player in England's cricketing history, though he was a good one. Unlike the true greats of the past, he was able to play on manicured pitches and rarely had to intermesh his international career with county or other commitments; he probably never played on a rain affected wicket and the first hint of rain or bad light saw him and his team mates racing for the pavilion. How he would have fared in the days of uncovered and rough-hewn pitches is something we will never know but he'd have been hard pressed to challenge the genius of Hobbs or Sutcliffe, Hutton or Compton, or a plethora of others.

Pietersen's exit is a boon to English cricket. It is just a pity it did not happen earlier. 

ENGLAND CRICKET WOES CONTINUE TO MOUNT.

As if the England cricket team and management weren't in a big enough mess already, now Steven Finn has been sent home from Australia. Apparently, he has 'technical issues' that he needs to work on.

The ECB hierarchy seems hell bent on burying its collective head in the sand and ignoring the catastrophe that surrounds it. Cook and Flower remain in post and Pietersen has been named in the 20-20 squad; in the meantime, Trott is nursing his depression, Swann has his feet up in retirement and Finn is having his action further mangled by bowling coaches.

When will those in power realise that they have to take some clear and positive action ? Continued inaction is not a choice and neither is the same old tinkering around the edges.

ENGLAND SUFFER FINAL HUMILIATION.

Yet again, the England cricket team has caused huge embarrassment to its supporters and, indeed, to the nation which it claims to represent. Its crushing defeat in the 5th Ashes Test Match in Sydney may have been expected but the manner of the final collapse and total absence of spirit was pitiful.

 

Whatever the root of the problem, it is clear that English cricket is in a shocking state. The County Championship, the principal source of players for the Test team, has been relegated to the cold and gloomy mornings of late March and early April, plus the dewy days of September; little of this 'real' cricket is played in the prime months of June, July and August which seem to be given over to the money raising efforts associated with varying one-day matches and the awful '20-20' competition. At no time do our young players have any real opportunity to play protracted matches consistently and in good conditions. The batsmen have little chance to develop runs of form and the bowlers little opportunity to find a rhythm. Small wonder that, when confronted with playing 5 Test matches in quick succession and with no lesser matches between, they prove to be lacking form, rhythm, fitness, and simple match practice.

 

Cook is a hopeless captain, and must relinquish the post. Pietersen is clearly not a team player and has to go altogether. Whether Carberry, Root, Bairstow, Ballance, Stokes and Borthwick are of the necessary class has yet to be discovered, though  one would suggest that only Root and Stokes have given any real indication of such as yet. Andy Flower and his coaching staff have failed miserably and have to go. The ECB, which is responsbile for the overall mess of both English domestic and Test cricket, needs to be dispensed with, 'en masse', and replaced by a body with at least some idea of what is needed in order to revitalise the game in this country.

 

Without such far-reaching changes, English cricket, as we have known it for many, many years, is doomed.