Friday, March 31, 2006

Weekend Preview - Rugby League

Its a tough week for the Vodaphone Warriors as they head over the water to take on the league leading Newcastle Knights. They will be boosted by their first win of the season last week but I expect that Newcastle will be just too strong for them. They will have the inform Andrew Johns running the show and the Warriors have not looked all season like they have an answer to him. They have to take their coaches advice and go back to basics and to keep the ball as long as possible. If the Knights score early I fear for the worst, as optimistic as I can be, the Knights will win this by 13+ points

It's cup week for Warrington and they take on the London Skolars, this should be a parade for them and I fully expect some big names to be rested this week. Look for a comfortable victory by the Wolves of 20+ points

Weekend Preview - Football

Cambridge have a home game tomorrow against Morecombe who are one of the few sides they have beaten away from home this year. Morecombe are a team just outside the play off zone and will want to put up a strong performance at the Abbey stadium to put pressure on the teams above them. This could well play into Cambridge's hands as they will look to hit them on the break. At this point in the season one point will not be enough for them so they will need to attack.

I will expect some changes for the team tomorrow, hopefully with Onibuje returning to partner Westcarr upfront. This week to strikers have been let go and he is the only one left, although Newman may persist with Guy, although if he is not returning next year we will need to return him back to Colchester soon. I would like to see some attacking ambition from Mr. Newman tomorrow so that we can win our first double of the season and cement a place towards the top of the bottom half. I predict a hard fought 2-1 victory

Weekend Ahead - Rugby Union

The Hurricanes have their biggest test yet as they take on the defending champions Crusaders on April Fools Day. It is difficult to predict whether the fact that the Crusaders have had a week off will have any influence on the game. The Hurricanes in the past weeks have shown their resilience and ability to grind out victories when they are needed. Great wins over the Bulls and Sharks have demonstrated that they can defend. Tomorrow will be a different ball game for them though and they will have to quieten the threat of Daniel Carter if they are going to get a victory. Taking a loss here should not affect there way forward and eventual semi-final place (hopefully) but they will not want a heavy defeat and should look to collect at least one bonus point. Unfortunately I think the Crusaders are too strong and take them to win by 1-12 points

The Northampton Saints return to cup action in Cup action this weekend and can expect a very tough game from Worcester. These are two tough sides who's chosen path has been pretty much the same. They are close in the league and share victories and defeats over each other. The question to this game will be whether Carlos Spencer is on form and Bruce Reihana can kick the goals. There is no doubting Spencer's ability, but his kicking game is shocking. The pre-season should see the Saints start looking for another goal kicker at the very least as they lose a lot of point in that area. I cannot call tomorrows game with confidence, but I would hope the recent form of the Saints will be enough to see them edge this by 1-12 points

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

How good were Arsenal?

Having sat upon a deep hatred for Arsenal stemming back to an FA Cup Quarter final defeat 17 years ago, I couldn't help but be impressed by the manner of their victory over Italian giants Juventus last night. What was more remarkable about this victory was that it proved once and for all that Arsene Wenger know his players inside out. Many criticised him at the start and through this season for letting Patrick Viera go, but as seen by the performance of Fabregas last night it was exactly the right thing to do.

The question will be can Arsenal actually go on to win the Champions league. Based on their last three performances it is a strong possibility. Arsenal have not performed at their best in Europe since maintaining their spot in the Champions league every year. They have never reached the semi-finals and they may never have a better chance to. I think a lot of this is down to the manager, he has in most sacrificed the league campaign this year to help rebuild his team, and right now they are with perhaps one exception playing the best football in England. I also think they are enjoying being the only British club left in the competition instead of being the more favoured English side. Their league form has led them to being underdogs for this campaign and they are making the most of it. Here's to a successful Italian job next week and an even better semi-final performance.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Another poor one day performance

When will they learn, chasing a meagre total of 203 England went on to lose the first one day international in India by 39 runs. They were bundled out by the spinners for just 164 on a wicket that, if they had batted sensibly, they should have won the game on. After a disastrous start losing two wickets in the first over they fought themselves back into the match to lie in a comfortable position. Then they through it all away with Pieterson and Flintoff both getting out to shots that they did not need to play. This is the worst possible start and they will have to hope that the bowlers can continue to deliver to keep them with a chance of taking the next game. The test team may not have missed Trescothick and Vaughan but the one day side definitely did.

It’s difficult to take any positives out of games like this, if pushed I would point to the bowling of Kabir Ali, his four wickets will help to build his confidence. The fact he went for nearly five an over is something that he will have to address but in these days of 300+ scores being achieved on a regular basis then this can be quite an acceptable rate to maintain. It will be interesting to see if there are any changes made before the second game with some notable poor performances for Strauss and Shah. I does not matter how good the bowling is you should not be giving away two wickets in the first over, its madness. The coaches will have to work on shot selection for both Pieterson and Flintoff as it was essentially there dismissals that caused the start of the downfall. As much as I like Ian Blackwell he needs to start putting in some big performances or his participation in the World Cup next year will be in doubt. Lets hope he is not one of the casualties of this abysmal performance.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Apology to Paul Cullen

I whole heartedly apologise to Warrington coach Paul Cullen. Yesterday in a fit of frustration and 21-0 behind at half time I said it was time for him to put up or shut up. I'm not sure what he said or did at halftime but 22 unanswered points in the second half led to an amazing fightback and improbable victory. It may have been a back to basics talk, it may have been a ball retention talk or it may have been a good old fashioned rocket up the arse to everybody. Whatever it was it worked and Warrington should take the win here and carry some sort of form into next weekends game.

What is clear for next weekend though is you cannot keep giving teams 10-16 point leads and hope to fight back and win. The discipline and basic rugby league have to be there from the whistle. The team that beat St. Helens is the team that needs to turn up every week. No more Jekyll and Hyde, lets just go out there and attack from the start and put the opposition on the back foot. It's time that the Wolves started to howl there way to victory

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Weekend Round Up

A very disappointing result for Cambridge United as they went down 1-0 away at Crawley. This brings their four match unbeaten streak to an end. From the sound of it there was very little in the game and it was a case of Crawley taking their one chance and us missing ours. There was a surprise up front with Jamie Guy returning on loan from Colchester. I don't understand why Rob Newman is pursuing this if he is still in Colchester's plans for next season it proves absolutely nothing towards next season. They finished the game with 10 men and will lose Rob Wolleaston for at least one game. I understand that we need to experiment with the team but we need to be winning games like this whatever team is put out there. They have a tough home game coming up against Morecombe next Saturday where they have the last chance to do a double over one team this year and I would hope for a strong performance to start another unbeaten run.

Rugby Union. As already discussed another win fro the Hurricanes keeps them there or there abouts in the Super 14. Northampton Saints are currently sitting on a five point win that could possibly see them jump as high as 6th in the Premiership. With a cup game next week it will be good for them to take stock of where they are and push for a high finish. Five different try scorers, including Ben Cohen, is an indication that this was a great team performance. If they can maintain this and keep the momentum going forward there is a chance that they can finish 6th this year and give themselves a chance of Europe. This will rely in them winning at least 3 of their 5 remaining games which they are capable of doing. If they can then get results against Leicester and Sale then that will only be for the better. I'm not sure that they are ready for Heineken Cup Rugby next season, it will just depends on who they sign post season.


Rugby League An absolutely stunning result for the Warriors as they beat Wests Tigers 26-10 at Jade Stadium in Christchurch. This is the first time they have won on home soil outside of Auckland. This is a great win and good to see them getting the basics right. It really is the key to winning rugby league games. Also they improved their ball retention holding onto it for long periods in the first half completing their series of sixes. They showed also that once they get in front they can be a difficult team to beat. This will move them closer to that zero point target and more importantly closer to getting off the bottom of the table. This was a very important win as they travel to Australia now for some tough games over the next few weeks. Although there really is nothing in this season for them if they can build some momentum they will become a team that others fear to play, and that can only be a good thing.

As it currently stands Warrington Wolves are being pulled apart by a man called Rooney. This will see them plunge to the depths of the Super League. There can be no more excuses, it's time to put up or shut up for coach Paul Cullen.

Friday, March 24, 2006

Weekend review

In Football Cambridge make the trip down the M25 to Crawley on Saturday hoping that one of their former players does not come back and bite them on the arse. They will be looking to stretch their unbeaten run to 5 games thus demonstrating their new found resilience. For me the only way they can do this is win. This will be the third away game in a row against low league opposition and to come away with a point just does not seem enough to me. It is good to be unbeaten, but better to be unbeaten and win games. I hope we stick with the 4-4-2 formation and attack, and also if we get the early goal again we look to build a lead instead of defend one. There are likely to be more changes as Rob Newman looks for his key personnel for next year. I just hope its change for the better, anything less than a 2-1 win will not make me happy.

In Rugby Union - Wellington Hurricanes continue there good early season form with a good win over the Sharks in Wellington. It was another victory built on the back of gooddefensee and a great work rate. They really have knuckled down and ground out results in the last couple of weeks. If they can now maintain their discipline then they have a great chance of making the semi-finals. The take on the Super 14 yard stick of the Crusaders next weekend and it should have been billed as a clash of the two unbeaten New Zealand teams. I hope they don't come to rue their twenty minutes of madness against the Cheetahs.

Northampton Saints will welcome back their International players this weekend as they take on Newcastle in what is a very winnable game. With their challenge cup quarter final coming up next weekend a win here will allow them to go into that with some good momentum. This game will also be a landmark game for one of the Saints favourite players as it is the 100th appearance by Bruce Reihana. The probable team on Sunday will be

15 BRUCE REIHANA (co-capt)
14 SEAN LAMONT
13 Jon Clarke
12 DAVID QUINLAN
11 BEN COHEN
10 CARLOS SPENCER
9 MARK ROBINSON
1 TOM SMITH
2 STEVE THOMPSON (co-capt)
3 Pat Barnard
4 Damien Browne
5 DAVID GERARD
6 PAUL TUPAI
7 SAM HARDING
8 Mark Easter

It's clear that the internationals will need to be back and back strong, it has been a while since Ben Cohen scored and he needs to keep up his improved club form and wade in with a try or two. Paul Grayson will be looking for as many points as possible in the last five league games so that the Saints put themselves in with a chance of sneaking into Europe. If this is their ambition then this is a must win game. Saints to scrape home by 1-12 points

In Rugby League - Warrington take on Wakefield on Sunday afternoon. Coach Paul Cullen was very candid in his website interview here this week. This is a refreshing interview and I wonder if Cullen really gave the reporter the short shrift that some of his answers imply. Basically he is convinced that last week their was a lack of respect and honesty from his players and that allowed the lowly Catalans in to steal the victory. He says that this has been addressed during the week and playing a side like Wakefield on Sunday we will know if the players have responded. Wakefield are very much a team like the Catalans. If the respect is not there then there will be yet another poor defeat that he will have to explain away, and any more of those and he will be joining the job club. I am confident the Wolves will bounce back and win by 13+ points

Another bad day at the office is likely for the NZS Warriors. They play the Wests Tigers in an "away game" in Christchurch. Wests are the defending premiers and although fancied by many not to do well this year they may just have too much ammunition for the Warriors. It is difficult to see where the confidence in the Warriors will come from. As this is a Saturday night game my hope is that it will be on Sky, but given the poor form of both sides maybe not. It is interesting over at http://www.rleague.com/ there is a massive contrast in the prediction score of their two resident analysts Chris Riediger has the Warriors winning by 8 points and James Stewart has the Tigers winning by 24. I think myself I sit in the middle somewhere hoping that the Warriors win but really believing that West Tiger will win by 10 points. Lets hope I’m wrong and that the Warriors can kick-start their lack lustre season

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

He was right.

Yes it is official Freddie Flintoff can do no wrong. Leading from the front on both the bowling and batting front he led England to an historic 212 run victory to win the third and final test in India. This ties the series at 1-1 and will give England back a lot of credibility they lost from the defeat in Pakistan. What makes this more sweet is the fact that they had five first choice players missing.

A lot of credit for this victory has to go to Flintoff, for motivating the players and getting the best out of all of them. Taking the last 7 wickets for just 25 runs is a phenomenal achievement especially in India. I'm sure there will be lots of questions asked about why Dravid put England into bat. But at this point who cares. I hope the one day side can take note from this and start to feel more positive about the way they play and approach games. This could be a spring board for them to go on to greater things.

Another positive to come out of this tour to India is that it will give the Australians something to think about. After the Pakistan tour I think that they were feeling confident about retaining the ashes in the autumn given the away form England were showing. Now they will have to have a complete re-think. The win demonstrates some strength in depth and if key players like Trescothick and Vaughan are missing then we have people who ca take up the mantle and in Flintoff we have a ready made captain. It will be interesting to see if Trescothick keeps the vice captaincy now. Roll on May and the first test against Sri Lanka

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Did he get it right?

That's the question that Andrew Flintoff will be asking himself tonight. The three overs for three runs that the last England pair scored could prove to be the difference in the last test in India. If the game ends tomorrow and India are 8 or 9 wickets down then the answer will be he got it wrong. If the England bowlers step up to the mark and bowl India out then the answer will be he got it right.

For most of the game I was expecting England to push on with the bat, but it never really materialized and they may have wasted valuable time that they could need tomorrow. On the positive side of things only four sides have won here batting fourth (odd choice to field first by India don't you think) and of those sides the highest run chase has been 163. The highest fourth innings total is 263, so it looks on paper that Flintoff did the right thing. If Michael Vaughan was here would he have done anything differently, maybe but would we have batted so well. Flintoff has been a captain who led from the front and has not been found wanting when the pressure has been on. Martin Corry (England Rugby captain) could do a lot worse than to sit down with him for a while and get some tips on how to motivate people.

Time will tell if Flintoff made the right choice, but as a captain and team player he has led his team to a chance of victory and for that he must be roundly applauded

Monday, March 20, 2006

Can England win?

Last week I accused the England cricket team of being like the England rugby team. Today I have to eat a large amount of humble pie on this one. They have put themselves in with an excellent chance of winning the final test match. I was surprised at the changes they made, drafting in some of the recently arrived one day squad. However this seems to have done the trick.

Batting first they managed a good 400 but would no doubt have been disappointed to not score more after being 250-3. The bowlers over the last couple of days have really stepped up to the mark, noticeably James Anderson. After breaking on to the scene a few years ago he has been on the fringes of the England team, but with a few more performances like this one and Simon Jones will have a real threat to his place. 4 wickets and a run out on top of a credible batting score put him in line for man of the match.

All that remains for England to do now is post a quick 250-275 and the bowl out India in the final four sessions... No problem there then. Seriously though you cannot ask for any more from this team. They have learned from the last test and have changed and improved, it's a pity the England Rugby team could not do the same.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Weekend Round Up

We start the weekend round up with Rugby Union. There is absolutely no doubt that England coach Andy Robinson could learn an awful lot from watching the Hurricanes vs Bulls game on Friday night. 13-0 down after 15 minutes the Hurricanes showed the way to play. They stuck with their gameplan and defended as though there lives depended on it and gradually managed to gain the ascendancy from the Bulls. They battled back to within 1 point and then got hit with a sucker punch, but still they carried on with their game plan. They had a bit of luck with a disallowed try but with grit and determination they got the go ahead score two minutes from time. They then battled and battled in defense to secure the ball and kick it out to win the game. If only the England team could show this kind of spirit. Two wins out of three in South Africa is a great platform for the Hurricanes to build on, if they can now go on to beat key teams like the Waratahs and Brumbies they may make it all the way to the final this year.

In stark contrast England ended the six nations in fourth place after conceding a try to Ireland in the last minute of the game. They then proceeded to moan and groan at the officials as they failed to give penalties for Ireland infractions. Two thing come out of this game for me. Firstly it looks like coach Robinson does not have the ability to get the best out of this group of players and it is time he was replaced. Secondly we have to stop living in the year 2003, if we want to stand a realistic chance of defending our World Cup we need to start building now. That means getting rid of the dead wood and bringing in quality players. It disappointed me that Andy Goode claimed they had the luck of the Irish, this would not have even been an issue had he managed to score the three kickable penalties in the first half. Yes England were better than last week, but Ireland were not as good as France. We need to work on the lineouts the scrums and show a lot more adventure in our backs play. It is true that tough defense wins matches, but if defense is all you can do and there is not attacking ambition, all we will ever be is a runner up in the Six Nations. There is a lot of work to do before the autumn internationals

Speaking of lack of attacking ambition we move on to Cambridge United who achieved what looks, on paper, to be a credible 1-1 draw against high flying Halifax Town. With Westcarr scoring again, this time in 80 seconds, we had hoped they would go on to record yet another win against a top three side. However we seemed determined to let them attack us whilst trying to catch them on the break. And what was even more frustrating with 15 minutes left we gave up all hope of scoring another goal. Which of course meant that when Halifax eventually scored it was us who were hanging on for a point again. The manager was true to his word and gave some of the fringe players a chance to play for their contracts. Gavin Heroo did well at right back, but I'm not sure he is one who should be kept. The midfield did OK and the defense were solid. Home debutant Medine offered very little up front and you have to wonder what Onibuje has done to be on the bench instead of this guy. The positives, a good result, another point closer to mathematical safety and a third goal in three games for Westcarr. The negatives, lack of ambition for the killer second goal and the goalkeeper needs to be taught how to kick the ball properly.

An appalling weekend in Rugby League. Both the Wolves and the Warriors were beaten. The worst of these defeats was for the Wolves as they surrendered a 10 point lead to the Catalan Dragons. This is a team that they should be beating comfortably. The coach, Paul Cullen, said not enough players turned up for the game. I would like to know he intends to do about it. After battling back to show their superiority and get a 10 point lead, they then hand it back almost immediately. There can be one of two problems here, Warrington played above their level last year or the coach is failing to motivate his players enough for them to do the business. If this is the form they are going to show then a top 6 finish will be a distant target by the end of April. The players need to take a hard look at what went on and then bounce back next week. They have two game before they take on the Bradford Bulls and they have to win them or their season will be one of re-building.

As for the Warriors, they should beat teams like the Eels, they just don't. There were too many school boy errors in their display. I know that it will be hard to get themselves motivated after the four point penalty they received but they have to dig deep and show some determination. It will be interesting to see what coach Cleary does to try to get them on the up. With three tough games coming next it is difficult to see where there first win will come from. After two games it is already roll on next season!

Friday, March 17, 2006

The Weekend Ahead

Football – Cambridge United entertain Halifax at the Abbey stadium on Saturday and will look to continue there excellent home form against the top team of the conference. In the Cambridge Evening News last night Andy Duncan stated that we as a team now have the steel to play in the conference. Whilst some may say it’s about time, I think this is an important statement to be made from a defender. The past few seasons have seen us struggle at the back, but with the extra consistency this year, at the back at least we have shown that we can dig in and grind out a result. I’d like to see us win more games and start to build an established strike partnership. Hopefully Craig Westcarr can keep his scoring form going to lead us to victory tomorrow. Halifax will not be an easy team to beat, but as long as we set out to attack them and can get an early goal like we have in the past couple of games then we can beat them. In team news David Bridges is still out and Rob Newman is waiting to here from Colchester to see if Jamie guy will return. If not expect Medine or Onibuje to partner Westcarr upfront.

Cricket – It’s the last test of the winter tours and already a major body blow has rocked England with Steve Harmison being ruled out of the final test. This does not bode well for England as Harmison has shown a knack of digging in at the tail and scoring some much needed runs. No news yet on who will replace him but he will be a hard act to follow. This is being billed as a must win test for England, and really we only have one chance of winning it and that’s to win the toss and build a big score. The bowlers have been carrying the batsmen for far to long now and on the harsh wickets of the sub-continent that’s just not good enough. The following batsmen owe us a big score: Strauss, Bell, Pieterson, Geraint Jones. If all four of them can hit big scores and not throw away their wickets the bowlers will have half a chance. Of course now I’ve said that India will win the toss and bat for three days freezing us out and winning the test series

Rugby Union – Wellington Hurricanes take on the Bulls on Friday evening. This will be the hardest game of their South African tour and was the one I most expected that they would lose. In the corresponding fixture last year the Bulls won and both sides went on to qualify for the last four. A similar result this year would be OK. There is one thing for certain though, this week the Hurricanes can not leave it until the very last minute to score the points they need. Whilst it is always good to see teams come from behind in the dying seconds of a match to snatch victory I do not expect the Bulls to be as generous as the Stormier were last week. There is one change to the Hurricanes team from last week, with John Schaller replacing Joe McDonnell at loose head prop for his second start. This is positive that they can play virtually the same team two weeks running, it helps bring consistency to the team and builds a very effective team unit. As optimistic as I am this year about the Hurricanes I think they will lose this game by 1-12 points. The good news is that now I have the lovely SKY+ installed I can record this early evening game and watch it at my own leisure.

England take on Ireland to try and ruin their chances of winning the six nations. The “sweeping” changes made by Andy Robinson are really about using the bench. I have discussed these in depth on this blog and see no need to add further comment. Expect Ireland to spoil Andy’s day and nick this by 1-12 points

In Rugby League Warrington take on the Catalan Dragons. On paper this should be an easy win for the Wolves and with the Saints and Bulls playing each other this weekend should offer them a chance to bridge the points gap at the top. The trick will be not to get too complacent and the claim the easy victory.I am expecting a comfortable win of well over 13 points.

The NZ Warriors take on the Eels in hamilton this weekend knowing that a win will leave them on -2 points. After an opening round defeat the coach has called for better execution and ball retention. So really it is back to basics for them. This will be a very hard game, despite their first round defeat the Eels will still be a hard team to beat and will certainly make the top eight. If the Warriors can keep hold of the ball and not concede early tries in the first half they will have a chance. If they start like they did last week there will be only one result. Lets try and be positive here and cheer them on to an unlikely victory

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

The First Sportspotato Fantasy Baseball team

Is here and looks damn good. I am in Yahoo public league 213822 and the team is


C J. Varitek (Bos - C)
1B D. Ortiz (Bos - 1B)
2B J. Kent (LAD - 1B,2B)
3B M. Ensberg (Hou - 3B)
SS M. Tejada (Bal - SS)
OF L. Berkman (Hou - 1B,OF)
OF A. Rowand (Phi - OF)
OF G. Jenkins (Mil - OF)
Util T. Glaus (Tor - 3B)
BN L. Overbay (Tor - 1B)
BN R. Belliard (Cle - 2B)
BN P. Wilson (Hou - OF)
BN R. Sanders (KC - OF)
SP A. Pettitte (Hou - SP)
SP J. Patterson (Was - SP)
RP J. Borowski (Fla - RP)
RP D. Hermanson (CWS - RP)
P F. García (CWS - SP)
P D. Davis (Mil - SP)
P L. Hernández (Was - SP)
BN G. Maddux (ChC - SP)

Best of luck to all, and may I win. First game starts on April 2nd where I play cubs. watch this space

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Robinson make whole sale changes

Full story is here. Do not be fooled by this headline as reported in BBC sport. There are no wholesale changes, pretty much the team that finished the game against France is the team that will start against Ireland. Of the 7 players dropped, only Josh Lewsey is not in the squad and Hodgson does not count as being dropped as he is injured.

So what we actually have is five players coming off the bench to replace five players on the pitch. On talksport radio this afternoon Rodney Marsh asked why the people who were dropped were singled out when the whole team was pathetic. I can answer that, because the players on the bench have just taken the place of the players whose position they play in. There has been no real thought that has gone into this its just, lets bring them off the bench and see what they can do.

So in effect we have a fly half who will kick inaccurately most of the game, another hooker who can't find his men in a line out and a few more backs that can't tackle as well as other teams. The only change that really has nay merits is bringing Abbot at centre. This is very much a specialist position and a player of his caliber now has the chance to establish himself there for the rest of they year. As for those that are dropped, don't worry about them too much as I'm sure one if not all will end up finishing the game against Ireland. Fingers crossed everyone this could be a bumpy ride.

Monday, March 13, 2006

And now for the cricket team

Well fresh from the England rugby rolling over and laying down for the French, the England cricket team do the same for the Indians. They now have to win the last test just to tie the series. This is a very poor performance considering the amount of time lost to bad light and rain, and will not reflect well on the test ranking for England. The measure of a good side is that they can win away from home, and right now England are showing no sign of achieving that anywhere. This means that we can expect the Ashes to return to the Aussies in the autumn.

With the one day side showing no signs of improvement the test side need to start flying the flag again. I know that the selectors will come out with a lot of excuses around a young team, key players missing and all that crap. But the fact is away from home we are struggling, we have yet to get to grips with foreign pitches, with the exception of the West Indies. Maybe it is a good thing that the world cup is there, though given the feast of runs scored by south Africa and Australia yesterday, any hopes of one of them not winning the World Cup are pretty low.

So what do England need to do. Firstly adapt better, even the fast scoring Aussies know its hard to score four and over on the sub continent. What they do is look to build big scores and then bowl out their opponents. In each Indian innings England have made an early breakthrough but have failed to capitalize on it. They need more consistency with the ball and more patience with the bat. Too many of them are getting out in the 50's and 60's when they are required to post centuries. I agree with batting first after winning the toss, but you then have to bat for the best part of two days to ensure that you will not lose. This tour now becomes one of damage limitation, which will not be easy considering the one dayers are up next. Let us all hope for a much improved performance on Friday

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Weekend Round up and team of the week

There is no team of the week this week, as not one team has performed above its ability. There have been good wins and woeful draws, and here is the summary.

Football - Cambridge United continue their unbeaten run with a 1-1 draw at Tamworth. It is difficult to assess whether this is a good or a bad result. Getting a point away from home is always a good result, especially against a team fighting at the wrong end of the table. Good work from Craig Westcarr to score his second goal in a week to put Cambridge ahead within 5 minutes. Unfortunately it only took Tamworth 7 minutes to equalize but from then on stout defending resulted in another point for Cambridge. This leaves us requiring around four points to guarantee Conference football next season. Also on a positive note Richie Hanlon got 30 minutes playing time, as did the returning Mark Peters. It will now be interesting to see how Rob Newman goes about team selection over the next few weeks. He has made it very clear that players are playing for contracts, but to make that statement he needs to be able to give them all enough time do produce the goods. This could mean not selecting the same team consistently and that could lead to poor end of season form. One of the biggest problems we have had this year is a lack of consistency. To give everyone a fair chance there will need to be some changes. I will be interested in how he deals with Fola Onibuje, top scorer so far but with a poor disciplinary record he will not be an automatic choice. The potential is there, I just hope it has a chance to shine.

Rugby Union - A cracking win for the Northampton Saints over a Gloucester side pushing for a top three finish. It was a very tight game with the Saints coming out 21-20 winners. The pack did a great job of competing with the famous Gloucester pack and helped build the foundation for this win. They hung on at the end but managed to pick up the four points. They now sit eight in the table and have three winnable game coming up. It will be hard to see them finishing anything higher than sixth, but if they get on a roll who know what is possible. This is also the first win they have had during International week, so they are going to have to develop strength in depth if they want to do better next season. It will be important they do this next season with the 2007 season having the World Cup in it they will be missing their internationals for a lot longer that year.

The Wellington Hurricanes got out of jail early on Sunday scoring two tries in the last five minutes for the come behind victory over the Stormers. In the grand scale of things this is a massive victory and may be the difference between finishing in the top four or just outside the top four. It was really important for the Hurricanes to win this game after last weeks disappointing result against the cheetahs and will set them up well for next weeks crunch game against the Bulls. If they can return from South Africa having won 2 out of 3 games it will have been considered and excellent tour. They still have difficult games to play in like the Crusaders and the Brumbies but if they can continue to produce try this kind of try scoring form and scoring 20+ points a game, they will always be in with a shout.Now if they could just find a reliable kicking fly half all would be well.

I have nothing to say about England, quite frankly they were bollocks and never even came close to troubling France. I think it will be the most optimistic England supporter who thinks we will still be world champions in 2007. France beat us comfortably and I think there will need to be a change of coach if we are ever going to improve from this. WE haev managed to beat a very poor Welsh side and a much improved Italian side. We will be underdogs for the game against Ireland and look like finishing thrid or fourth in the Six Nations. Back to the drawing board big time for England, I think its time to change the old guard

Rugby League - An abysmal start to the new NRL season from the Warriors. They have taken their four point and $430,000 fine on the chin and have stated that they will not contest it any further. This will at least bring closure to the matter and allow for everyone to concentrate with what is going on, on the pitch. An opening day defeat to the Melbourne Storm by 6 points has not helped matters. After failing to score in the first half they battled well to outscore the Strom in the second period but had given themselves far too much to do. Hopefully now everything is more settled the team can start to produce the goods on the field. However if they have any ambitions of finishing outside the bottom two they are going to need to win their home games. This is the biggest advantage they have as all the other teams have a long way to travel to get their. Next week will show whether or not this season has just been written off

The Warrington Wolves stood up and were counted on Friday night and recorded a much needed victory over a struggling Wigan side. This leaves them sixth in the table and they will need to start to build some momentum now to try and close the gap between the top four teams. Its hard to say what the mood in the camp would be had they lost this game, but the fact is they didn't. They must now make sure that they win their next two games to set themselves up for the tough encounter with Bradford. Lee Briers will need to be kept fit and on the top his game as currently he seems to be the player who is making the team tick. Time will tell about how much the Wolves have improved, but for now I think they are starting to find their feet, it is just a shame that it took them three defeats to do it.

Cricket - The England team have done their best to gift India victory in the second test. In a game that seemed to be destined to end in a draw, England have ended day 4 on 112-5 with a lead of around 80 runs. It is massively important that Flintoff and Jones bat for at least the majority of the first session and put this game beyond India. They will not be able to bowl them out as the wicket will now favour the spinners not the seamers in the England squad. If they can take this game to a draw they have a great chance of winning the series with just one test to come. There were disappointing scores from bioth openers and a dodgy dismissal of Pieterson has left them in this precarious position. Lets hope they come out and bat sensibly tomorrow to keep them in the series come the final test.

Friday, March 10, 2006

The weekend ahead

Kicking off with football - Cambridge United head to Tamworth looking to remain unbeaten through the week and record a second consecutive away victory. Tamworth are struggling at the bottom of the conference so this should be achievable, if you add to that fact that there star signing Paul Merson has now decided to retire then the U's have a great chance. For a change Rob Newman has virtually a full squad to chose from, with the exception of Bridges (shoulder) and Guy (recalled by Colchester). It will be interesting to see what tactics he chooses to play. After Onibuje's abysmal performance on Tuesday night he may revert back to one up front letting Westcarr do all the running. I really hope this isn't the case we have a good chance here to finish the season on a high and should take the same bold attacking approach we did last weekend. The question will need to be, does he play Onibuje or Medine up front. It could be a chance for the youngster to impress, and give Onibuje something to think about by spending the afternoon on the bench. I hope he does not bring back Mark Peters and keeps the defense the same just to try and get some consistency going. I guess we will know more at 2:30pm tomorrow. For me this is going to be a 1-1 draw, I have supported them too long now to get that optimistic.

Rugby Union - England renew their Six Nations campaign as they travel to France on Sunday. The team by and large are being given a chance to redeem themselves after that dreadful loss to Scotland two weeks ago. The most significant change is Matt Dawson starting in the No. 9 Jersey. Although he is currently in his mid-thirties I see this as the right move for Andy Robinson to make. In the Scotland game the backs were getting the ball much quicker when he was on the pitch and the Scotland scrum half was under a lot more pressure. With France performing out of sorts in their last three games the secret to beating them may well be to get quick ball to the backs to stretch their suspect defence. Dawson is the man to do this for England, and if Ellis can take some time to watch how he does it, it will help cement his position as the one of the two best English scrum half’s. It will not be easy to win in Paris and you can bet that the French will be up for this game more than any other game and the expectation will be that whoever wins this will win the Six Nations. Optimistically on this one I am going to take England by 1-12 points.

The Wellington Hurricanes also play on Sunday in the second match of their South African tour. They still lie second in the table despite their loss to the cheetahs last week. They also have the added bonus of having the Indian sign over their rivals having beaten them in their last four meetings. They need to bounce back in this game and have made five changes to the team that started last weeks game. Paul Tito and Rodney So’oialo return after suspensions. Changes in the backs see Tane Tu’ipulotu replace Tana Umaga at second five-eighth, Isaia Toeava come in for Shannon Paku at fullback and David Holwell take the place of Jimmy Gopperth at first five-eighth. The loss of Umaga as always will be hard for the Hurricanes, but Tu’ipulotu is a ready made replacement. The defence will have to have a big game again this week and cannot afford to disappear after sixty minutes. Discipline is another factor where the Hurricanes will have to improve. This has always been an issue for them and this season could be their biggest problem. If they give penalties away in tight games which can be kicked then they are going to have to expect to lose a lot more games. Bringing in Holwell may also be a good move as he is one of the most experienced Super 12\14 players and will marshal the troops effectively to put pressure on the Stormers. So if they defend well and can play eighty minutes with 15 men I will take them to sneak a win by 1-12 points.

The Northampton Saints return to action on Saturday against Gloucester and this is going to be a tough game with Gloucester currently sitting in the top four. It doesn’t help that this is also International weekend so they will be without key players like Ben Cohen and Steve Thompson. There is no news on the team yet but I expect Paul Grayson to name Bruce Reihana in the starting line up after his return from New Zealand. The club has been exceptional in allowing Bruce the time off he needs to come to terms with the death of his older brother. The fact that this is International week may play into Northampton’s hands as Gloucester will also be missing key players to the home nations and in addition they will also be losing players to the Commonwealth games. This could be a must win game for them especially after the defeat two weeks ago. Bristol and Bath are currently breathing down their necks so they will need at least four points from this game to hold them at bay. Gloucester will be playing a lot of youngsters and you can expect they will be eager to impress, but the loss of their key players will hurt them more than Northampton’s. So I predict a Saints win by 1-12 points

Rugby League - I previewed the Warriors chances this season in the NRL yesterday so will concentrate on Warrington who have to travel to Wigan on Friday night. This is a massive game for both sides as they currently both sit on won 1 lost 3 games. Warrington can be pleased with their efforts over the last two week in beating Hull and troubling St. Helens for long spells last Friday. They need to keep this up to pressurise Wigan tonight. An early score would help settle the nerves. Paul Cullen has virtually a full strength pack to pick from tonight with Rob Parker returning from injury. Also back in the squad is Logan Swann, a much under-rated player in my opinion, who should help in gaining the hard yards. The move of the camp is positive as Paul Cullen noted when he said "We have improved with every outing since round one. Unfortunately we came up against the best side in the competition last week - and we were one score off them. It is a mark of our progress that we were very disappointed we didn’t win. The mood in the camp is positive." Lets hope this is the case and they can turn over a struggling Wigan side. Some elements of the Warrington crowd are starting to get worried about Paul Cullen. I think he needs to be given time. Sacking coaches is a gut reaction taken in football, it’s not needed in Super League. Wolves to win by 1-12pts

Cricket - The second test between England and India will head towards the predicted draw this weekend. With virtually no play on Friday England sit at 200-5 in their first inning and will look to push onto a high total. Personally I cannot se any result other than a draw if anymore time is lost. This may not be a bad thing as it will give Flintoff time to let Lee Plunkett get used to bowling on Indian wickets. I am surprised he was added to the team ahead of Ian Blackwell as India chose to use three spinners. That would indicate to me that they expect the pitch to be turning early on in proceedings, so having four seamers could have counted against England. More worrying at the moment is the form of Strauss, he is starting to look like a player who can only perform when batting in England. Given the form of Alastair Cook in the first test he needs to be looking posting some good scores to be assured of his place for the summer test series. I predict an England total of around 340 will mean the match will be a draw, then again maybe it will rain all day again tomorrow

Basketball - Well since I started blogging about them the Golden State Warriors have won one of fifteen games. So I am going to stop until they win another game, which is unlikely to be this weekend

Thursday, March 09, 2006

What chance the Warriors

The new NRL season kicks off this weekend, and as reported earlier on this blog it looks like the New Zealand Warriors will start 4 points behind everyone else. For a really detailed review of the season go here and read Chris Riediger's review of the season. He has predicted the way the minor premier will finish and it looks like this

North Queensland Cowboys
Parramatta Eels
Sydney Roosters
The Bulldogs
Melbourne Storm
Wests Tigers
Dragons
Sea Eagles
Broncos
Knights
Rabittohs
Panthers
Sharks
Warriors
Raiders

This is a very good attempt at predicting the season. I think that he is underrating the Dragons slightly. It is time that the talented individuals came together to produce the team performances that should see them finish in the top 3. He also has Wests Tigers finishing high up in 6th place whereas I actually think that they will flatter to deceive this season and will struggle to make the end of year premiership.

My league would look like this

Roosters
Eels
Dragons
Cowboys
Bulldogs
Broncos
Knights
Eagles
Tigers
Panthers
Sharks
Warriors
Storm
Rabbitohs
Raiders

We'll take a regular health check on this throughout the season to see how my prediction is coming along.

Moving onto the Warriors, they are expecting a decision tomorrow on the points deduction but this is not expected to be overturned. It means this season can pretty much be written off. Its a shame that such a basic error was made and that they had to be made an example of. I'm not happy about the punishment but understand that in these cases you cannot afford to let people or teams of lightly or it will open the door for everyone else to do the same.

So what will we consider a success for this season. Well a stable team for a start and a better defensive record. If I was confident I would have them finishing around 9th if they can find some consistency. However with the four point penalty I cannot see them finishing above 12th. They open up the season on Sunday against the Melbourne Storm, they won the corresponding fixture last season and will hope to eat into that 4 point deficit from the start. They had a good victory in the last trial game over the Bulldogs with Tony Martin coming off the bench to good effect. They will look to play him from the start to get off to a flyer on Sunday. I'm not sure if the game will be televised here in the UK, but I am looking for a strong start to the season for the Warriors.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Good or Bad Result

It's difficult to tell if last nights result for Cambridge United was good or bad. On the face of it a 1-1 draw with a top 5 team seems like a good result, but scratch the surface and is this a case of another 2 points lost. This time I'm afraid I don't have the answer as I was sat at home watching the game on www.sporting-life.com. Scoring in the thirteenth minute, even if it is a gift, you would hope would set the team up for a nice victory. However it looked like Gray put us under an awful lot of pressure through the middle of the half and the equalizer may well have been justified.

Unfortunately the U's lost Jamie Guy as he was recalled by Colchester in the afternoon as cover for their injury crisis. This let Onibuje and Westcarr up front. By all accounts Onibuje had a shocker and was hauled off 10 minutes into the second half. Judging by the 4 out of 10 rating he got from the local paper they were none to impressed either. I want to take the positive out of this result. We played a good team, we drew with a good team, we did our best to play the same side two games running, we could have won the game and we did not lose.

Now what this adds upto is what I have been writing about for the last few weeks, we are now in a position where around 5 points will mean we will still be in the conference next season. This means Rob Newman will be able to start building his side now. So the likes of Onibuje and Westcarr can start playing for a contract next season. If what the finance guys say are true we will have a bigger and better playing budget is I expect some of these players will not be around next season. More good performances or bad performances could seal their fate. I look forward to the last 10 games of the season to see how will step upto the mark.

On a side note with York winning last night Greys dropped out of the top 5 so we still have beaten 3 out of 5 top 5 side and still have two to play at home. So factually I am still correct.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Another top 5 scalp

If you take a look at the top of the Nationwide Conference at the moment you will see the following teams Accrington Stanley, Hereford United, Stevanage, Halifax and Grays Atheltic. Three of theses sides have something in common, and that is that they have turned up to the Abbey Stadium taken a sound beating and left with their tales between their legs. Tonight I hope that Cambridge can add Greys Athletic to that list, and in 11 days time complete the quintet with Halifax.

The fact is plain and simple, at home Cambridge are more than a match for the top teams in the conference and if their away from was not so poor they would be up there challenging for a play off spot. Tonight they take on Greys Athletic who gave them a lesson in finishing at the start of the season, giving us a 5-3 thumping at their place. We have moved on since then and will hopefully show some of the resolve that led us to our first away victory of 2006 last Saturday.

One blow will be that David Bridges looks set to miss the game because of a shoulder injury picked up on Saturday. I cannot say enough about his contribution to the team this season, it makes you wonder why on earth he was let go by us a couple of years ago. He has the ability to become an excellent player at a much higher level, if he can continue this form and stop picking up bookings for dissent and ungentlemanly conduct. The question will be can we replace him in midfield, the answer will be not completely but hopefully who ever Newman picks in his place tonight will realize the big shoes they will have to feel.

The only other conundrum he should have is whether or not he should continue with the back four that kept a clean sheet on Saturday. Mark Peters will be itching to get back in the team and has been one of our better players this season. I believe Rob Newman has to start to try to pick the same team in consecutive games and should stay with what he's got. I'm not even sure that I would put Peters on the bench as he already has the more than capable Michael Morrison there. As I have said before its time to start looking to next season so maybe leaving Peters out altogether is the best thing to do. Whatever team he puts out let hope it can do the same as it did to the other three teams in the top five.

Monday, March 06, 2006

A New Fantasy Era

Its time to dust off the old and welcome in the new. As an avid fantasy player I figured it was time, if I'm going to take this blogging stuff seriously, that I retired the old Abbey Habit teams and started to enter competitions as the Sportspotato to see whether that can change the fortune I have at playing theses games. It's not that I'm bad at all of them after all I was recently crowned February Manager of the Month in my Fantasy football league. It's just that for some I know very little outside of the team that I support.

So step forward the first team in this new era. It's the fantasy baseball Sportspotato team playing in the Yahoo fantasy baseball league. I chickened out and went for an automated draft and took the standard rankings of players offered by Yahoo. I am now awaiting the outcome of the draft and will post my team as soon as it is given to me. If anyone out there is reading me then any hints and tips they can give me will be gratefully received. I will have a regular Monday column that updates everyone about how the fantasy sports potatoes are performing.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Weekend Roundup and Team of the Week

Without reservation my team of this weekend is Cambridge United. Finally they managed to go and get themselves three point son their travels. A 1-0 win away at Woking may not seem much but to them it represents breaking an abysmal runof only getting one away win a season. Jamie Guy was the man who stepped up in the 72nd minute and rifled home a 25 yard shot and then we defended as if our lives depended on it. I am also pleased to see that Rob Newman has not got carried away with this and demanded that we produce the goods again next week at Tamworth. Now I'm not to sure what caused this momentous change in our fortunes, perhaps it was the sports pyschologist they bought in during the week. I would like to think that it was because we actually tried to attack our opponents instead of trying to hit them on the break. If we start the game with a positive attitude it will mean that the home side will then have to think about how to play against us as opposed to us letting them play waiting for mistakes. If our away form does change dramatically it is still too late for this season to produce anything other than a top half finish. Given the situation we were in at the start of the season Rob Newman has done a fantastic job. I would like to see a positive response to this win on Tuesday night when we take on Grays. After all we owe them a beating after they thrashed us at their place. Finger crossed next weekend we can win away again and have recorded three wins in a row for the first time in about 83 years!

Closely running Cambridge for team of the week are the England cricket team who got themselves a very creditable draw in the first test in India. This is a great result considering the disastrous tour to Pakistan, and the best thing to come out of this game is that there seem to be some good new talent coming through who can put pressure on the established England stars. Top of the list at the moment will be Alastair Cook who hit two great innings including a maiden test century, this is good news and will I'm sure Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell will now feel the pressure to start scoring big. Monty Panesar looks a good challenge to Ashley Giles's spin crown. What this test also showed was the potential in Andrew Flintoff to be a future England captain. Sure on the last day he could have changed his tactics a bit to try and get that second wicket. But he got the declaration spot on and was very good at using his bowlers throughout the Indian first innings. I was a little bit disappointed in the form of Steve Harmison in this test and would like to hope this will improve. If he has another poor tour it will be up to the selectors to decide whether it will be worth while taking him to Australia in the autumn when we have to defend the ashes. I personally think the big man will come good, and if we continue to play like this we have the potential to win this series. Its then a matter of trying to sort out the one day team.

Moving on to Rugby Union. I have just sat and watched the Hurricanes roll over and lay down for the Cheetahs. So it looks like the traveling sickness has hit the Hurricanes again. After weathering the storm thrown at them for 60 minutes that had scrapped and kicked their way to a 25-10 lead. They were sitting pretty but had also passed up two really good opportunities to extend their lead further and the they were made to pay. The defense that had continued to push back the Cheetahs all game was starting to crack and after an endless amount of pressure a try and drop goal were conceded. Then to cap it all Nonu makes a stupid late tackle and they are down to 14 men for 10 minutes. The cheetahs then proceeded to bully their way to line and make the decisive score. Now I don't care whether you are playing at home or away, if you want to be a successful side you must be able to close games out like this one. A three score cushion with a quarter of the game left should be enough. However if you pass up opportunities prior to pushing the self destruct button then this is always going to happen. The defense needs to be 100% all the time, I know its a big ask but if you want to make the semi-finals of the Super 14 there can be no excuses. The Hurricanes credentials as a top four team will be tested again next weekend, and they will need to come out of it with more than just a bonus point to show for all of their hard work.

In Rugby League, the new NRL season starts next week and I will preview that in more detail later this week. Over here Warrington, as predicted lost to St. Helens by 18 -10 on Friday night. This actually was an excellent performance by the Wolves and it wasn't until a late penalty by St. Helens stretched their lead to 8 points that they felt comfortable. The Wolves will rue the fact that they passed up on a lot of decent opportunities to make this a closer game than what it actually was. Their defense was solid for most parts and they tried to take them game to St. Helens. I'm not saying that they would have won had they managed to convert some of their opportunities but they would have had a better chance of winning. All in all Paul Cullen seems to have turned around the poor start to the season. However all this good work could be undone very quickly if they are to lose against Wigan next weekend. Lee Briers is currently starting to emerge as the key player to the squad and if he can continue with the sorts of performances that he has done over the last two weeks then the Wolves will get a better team. They missed the experience of Logan Swann, but that is no excuse. Currently St. Helens are the best team in the league, this loss will not and should not hurts Warringtons campaign at all.

Finally the Golden State Warriors appalling form continues with a home loss to the Lakers. There form since the All Star break has been disastrous and they now sit two game a drift at the bottom of the Pacific Conference. There next five games are all on the road and I cannot see myself writing about any victories for quite while. I'll admit that I don't follow basketball as closely as I should, but given the last few weeks results you can see why. I'll do a bit more research into the Warriors and there current run of form to see if I can come up with a more intelligent comments than "Bugger". Watch this space.

Friday, March 03, 2006

The weekend ahead

The weekend kicks off with a huge Rugby League clash between Warrington and St. Helens. The Saints are undefeated at the moment and will want to continue on in that vein. I hope that Warrington will take the game to them and look to build an early lead. One thing is for certain the cannot afford to lose a quick 14 points which they did to Hull last week. With both Logan Swann and Rob Parker missing from last week and the continuing absence of Paul Rauhihi and Stuart Reardon it will be a long night for the Wolves. The defense is going to need to make plenty of tackles tonight and the forwards will have to make the hard yard. If they can keep the score down in the first half the TV cameras and crowd might come into play and give us half a chance. Though with the injuries it is going to be a struggle so this week I'm going to take the Saints by 1-12 points.

The Hurricanes have traveled to Durban to take on the Cheetahs who are one of the new teams in this years Super 14. They will be looking to blow through the tour of South Africa with maximum points. Historically the Hurricanes do no travel well and will be hoping that this year is better for them. If they have any ambition of a top four finish, going through this tour unbeaten will help improve their current chances. Paul Tito and Rodney So’oialo will both be serving one game suspensions and will not be available. This will make it harder, but with Jerry Collins coming of the bench the Hurricanes have a great chance to start their tour off with maximum points. I'm going to back on the backs to do their thing and take the 'canes to win by 13+ points

In what is a relatively light weekends sport we move onto Cambridge United who are playing away at Woking on Saturday afternoon. This will be another tough away game for us and it will be interesting to see what formation and tactics we play. I think at this point of the season there is very little merit in playing for the point.Wee need to take the game to woking and put them on the back foot from the start. This week has seen the arrival of Matt Bloomer another loanee thistimem from Lincoln. He looks set to make his debut alongsideAndyyDuncann in the heart of thedefensee. It looks like Bridges will return to midfield where he hasdefinitelyy been missed and Onibuje will return up front. To try and break the away hoodoo a sports psychologist has been drafted in this week to see what he can do. I'm not a great fan of this and would suggest to Mr. Newman that if we bothered to try to attack away from home that may solve the problem. Lets see what affect he will have this Saturday, I am going for a respectable 1-1 draw.

The Golden State Warriors are back in there win one, lose one pattern ater a home defeat to the Jazz they cam back to beat the Magic by 4 points. This weekend they host the Lakers pon friday night and then head of to play the Timberwolves on Sunday. They have a realistic chnce of beating the Lakers and will need to if they don't want to stay bottom of the Pacific Division. a loss here could really seal their fate for the season. The Timberwolves don't have that great a win/loss record themselves but will still probaly have too much game for the Warriors. Optimistically I'll go for a win against the Lakers and a narrow defeat in minnesota

Thursday, March 02, 2006

The Bowlers can Bat

...but can they bowl. Resuming at 246-7 the England tail wagged like a dog on heat. All three tail enders hung around, Hoggard with 11 of 41, Harmison with a cavalier 39 of 42 and Panesar 9 of 43. This allowed Paul Collingwood score his maiden test century and he finished undefeated on 134. This was a mammoth effort by Collingwood and meant that the England first innings finished on 393, which is a lot more promising than anyone thought going into the first session this morning.

The trouble is on this kind of track its not going to be enough, the batsmen have failed to deliver the big total just as they did in Pakistan. Whilst 393 is semi-respectable the Indian top order were soon able to make huge in roads into it finishing the day on 136-1. Hoggard took an early wicket but after that there were very few chance on offer for the bowlers.

The thing the England batsmen fail to recognize is that on the sub continent it is very hard to score at four an over, like they do over here and in Australia. This is one of the reasons why even the great Australia struggle to win out there. If we are to continue to go with Pieterson batting at number four then he needs to learn that you don't have to score at a run a ball. Collingwood and Flintoff have learnt it, hopefully Ian Bell has learned it, it's now time Pieterson did. We are going to need this if we lose are number three cheaply.

The bowlers are also going to have to keep it tight, the more they can frustrate the Indian batsmen the more chance they are going to take and the more wickets we will take. Good in theory but can we put it into practice. We'll have to wait until close of play tomorrow to find out.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

England vs Uruguay almost live

Welcome to coverage and comments of the England vs Uruguay game live from Anfield. Darren Bent is starting up front looking to grasp this opportunity with both hands. The England team is as follows:

Paul Robinson (Tottenham)
Gary Neville (Man Utd)
John Terry (Chelsea)
Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd)
Wayne Bridge (Fulham)
David Beckham (Real Madrid)
Michael Carrick (Tottenham)
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Joe Cole (Chelsea)
Wayne Rooney (Man Utd)
Darren Bent (Charlton)

Teams are coming on to the pitch for the national anthems. There will be a minutes silence in honour of the late Ron Greenwood and Peter Osgood who unfortunately passed away today. Fifteen minutes in and it looks like an open game. A fairly solid start by England, although Rio Ferdinand is having one of his more shaky games so far already having made three mistakes. They haven't managed to fashion a chance for Darren Bent yet. The midfield duo of Gerrard and Carrick is working well, though Joe Cole and Beckham are starting to drift in. The Uruguayan keeper has had to make one smart save to prevent Cole scoring for England.

Cole passes up an opportunity on 20 minutes after fine work from Carrick, but he failed to work the keeper. So far we are a quarter of the way through and looking comfortable. The good news is that Graham Le Saux is pleased with the start. Beckham passes up a great opportunity after a fine through ball and he really should have done better. Great pressure by England is pushing Uruguay back, and they have to concede another corner. Sven is the ever "passionate"manager. Ferdinand reminds Forlan what its like play in the Premier League. Uruguay have their first corner of the match and score an absolutely outrageous goal as the corner is cleared to the number 5 and he hits an unstoppable volley into the top corner on 26 minutes.

England try to reply quickly and squander another chance. Uruguay have the England defense in a muddle and Wayne Bridge is left in a heap on the ground by Paul Robinson. This does not look good for Bridge as he is stretchered off. He missed a lot of last season and this through injury, this could be the end of his World Cup hopes. Carragher is on as a replacement. Rooney is not making much of an impact at the moment, our best player is looking like its Cole and that is a worry in itself. Uruguay seem to be happy just to sit back and hit England on the break. The positive news for England is that Sweden are currently being beaten by the Republic of Ireland 2-0

Another opportunity goes begging as Beckham is put through by Gerrard but can only find the keeper with his cross. Unbelievably the best opportunity has gone to John Terry as he lumbers through the Uruguayan defense and forces the keeper into a smart save. England keep the pressure on an another corner results with more pressure but still no breakthrough. Good pressure form Bent and hits a first time shot well wide. The fullbacks are able to put pressure on, but the openings are not coming, Cole is starting to drift inside too much, he needs to stay on the left. Frustration is starting to set in and Beckham earns himself a yellow card for a reckless challenge. Half time is here and England don't really dserve to be a goal down, but they are and will need to keep up the pressure at the start of the second half.

It looks like Wayne Bridge has right ankle ligament damage but no detail on how serious this is yet. Two subs are made with Gerrard and Terry leaving the field to be replaced by Ledley King and Jermaine Jenas. This scares me as there are now far too many Spurs players on the pitch.

England start where they finished piling on the pressure. Good build up leads to an excellent strike from Rooney and a great save from the keeper. Though we are getting a lot of corners, Beckham's delivery has been awful often not beating the first man. Bent is trying his hardest and making alot of good runs, but the ball is not getting to him.

One hour in and the subs are starting to warm up, England are struggling to break down Uruguay and are looking a little light in midfield now that Jenas is on. If he wants to impress he is going to have to buck his ideas up. It looks like Wright-Phillips will come on for Beckham, it will then depend on how much longer Sven wants to give Darren Bent. To be honest the standard of crossing from Beckham has been poor, and again we are showing a lack of strength in depth. Uruguay are gaining in confidence and Robinson is being called into a lot more action this half. The subs are ready but England have a free kick so they'll wait for that. Good effort from Beckham and it is his last action of the night. We have Wright-Phillips and Crouch coming on for Rooney and Beckham. I can't see us getting back in it from here.

Cole is currently the best player on the park, but is tending to come looking for the ball now and England are starting to lose their shape. The forwards need to start showing for the ball or this is going to end 1-0. Just as I say that England make it look so easy as Cole puts in a beauty of a cross for the lanky Crouch to head in after 75 minutes. Almost immediately he turns provider slipping on Cole who beats his man and draws a great save from the Uruguayan keeper. Where was this passion for the rest of the game?

Looks like Bent's time is up as Defoe is warming up, and getting ready to come on. He has had a solid game adn shouldbe proud of his debut, with abitmore luck he would have had a goal. Unfortunately he has not done enough, in my opinion, to book his place to Germany. Defoe has nine minutes to ty and touch the ball. England are pushing forward looking for the winner but are currently not threatening. Uruguay are spending the last 10 minutes making all their remaining substitutions. The game is starting to get out of hand and the ref needs to step in here, and somehow in the melee Carragher has picked up a yellow card. I don't see much injury time being played here as the ref will want to end this early. 90 minutes and there are a few handbags flying around and even the ref has joined in the shoving.

2-1 as man of the match Joe Cole pops up to put away a Wright-Phillips cross, great football all round. Always good to see a 93rd minute winner

Not a bad game, good performances from Bent, Carrick and Cole not so good from Jenas and Defoe

Final Score England 2-1 Uruguay
Man of the Match Joe Cole

Is it a good day or a bad day?

The England cricket tour got underway with the first day of the first test in India this morning. This has not been the smoothest of tours so far with Andrew Flintoff taking over the captaincy from an injured Michael Vaughan. Things started well by winning the toss and deciding to bat, but on a flat wicket at the close of play England are 246-7. This makes it a bad day.

We started OK with a sound fifty partnership between Strauss and debutant Alastair Cook but lost wickets steadily with Bell only scoring 9 and Pieterson 15. These guys need to be scoring more runs than this. We cannot keep losing our 3rd and 4th batsmen so cheaply, it puts us into a defensive mode when we all know that we're much better attacking the bowling side. Captain Flintoff steadied the ship somewhat but was given out for 43 with a very dubious lbw decision. Worse was to follow as Jones was out to another dubious decision and Blackwell played on to leave them at 246-7 at stumps.

India will be well pleased with their days work today, on a batsmens wicket they have put themselves in the driving seat. England need to pray for one of Hoggards long innings for little runs hoping that Collingwood can build on his 50 and at least give us a respectable target