The Splog

Hair we go again

2008-03-19T02:42:00.001Z

YES, it's the issue that's brought me out of retirement. The man at the centre of the Pakistan ball tampering fiasco, Darrell Hair, is back as an elite cricket umpire and I really want to talk about it.

Hair's return is unexpected. The Australian only decided against suing the ICC for unfair dismissal in October 2007, whilst there has been no change in direction by the Pakistan Cricket Board, who labelled him a racist.

During his ban as a test umpire, Hair has been on gardening leave, calling matches for associate nations, such as Kenya and Scotland, basically learning his apprenticeship again. The World of cricket has changed during this time.

The subcontinent teams have lost the moral high ground on the race issue, thanks to ape impersonator and some time spin bowler Harbhajan Singh. The ICC's relatively relaxed punishment could have paved the way for silence on Hair's return.

This lenient approach prompted accusations of a weak ICC, afraid to face up to revenue giants India, who bring an obscene amount of money to the game. The governors needed to be seen to still be in charge of their own show.

What the ICC will like you to believe is that Hair is a top quality umpire and should be given the stage to match. This is true. But, Hair is one of a thinning bunch and the standard of umpiring has come into question recently, magnified by the now frenzied TV analysis of each decision.

Whether the ICC have the balls (sorry, poor choice of phrase, Darrell) to select Hair to oversee a Pakistan match remains to be seen.

If Hair umpires Pakistan, there remains the danger he will be biased against them, or overcompensate to prove he is not prejudiced. However, if he isn't ever selected to see a Pakistan match it would beg the question: can the big cricketing nations pick and choose umpires?

Limited overs, unlimited potential

2007-08-31T01:57:00.001+01:00

ENGLAND were somewhat of a shambles at this year's cricket World Cup. Stumbling through the super 8's stage, only defeating the West Indies, Ireland and Bangladesh, this was followed by a poor ODI series against the West Indies on home soil.

So what exactly has happened to England since then to make them such a formidable force inside 50 overs?

The most obvious change is in the leadership. Paul Collingwood has taken the captaincy reigns with gusto. Changes lie deeper than this though.

Two arguments spring to mind: that England hit rock bottom and stayed there for the last two or three years, and that India are not the side they once were. Both are true to an extent, some praise must go to the players though. Keep digging, then.

Allan Donald has made a fantastic impact on the quicks, giving them new belief where before they would have crumbled. Jimmy Anderson has found the form that shot him to fame at 20. That still isn't the whole story though.

At the risk of defeating the point of this blog, it is impossible to say for sure. The coming together of all the influences, mostly the fact that England could not get any worse has been a massive lift.

Looking down the batting line up, a long list of players have stood up to be counted. Prior, for the most part, gets the innings off to a decent start and balances out the more thoughtful Cook, whilst Bell has been a revelation.

On Thursday it was the batting down the order which saved England's bacon. Young stars such as Broad and Bopara are taking the lead, instead of cowering in another famous England collapse.

India, meanwhile, are not the side they used to be. The batting legends' powers are weakening daily, the tail is long enough to wag the dog and the fielding is about as athletic as (insert needlessly insulting analogy here).

Most surprisingly of all, England's fortunes seem to be inversely proportional to that of Kevin Pietersen, their trump card.

England must work hard to close out the seven match series, which they now lead 3-1, and this summer may not be such a disaster after all.

From Calamity to Mr Consistency

2007-08-24T00:21:00.001+01:00

DAVID JAMES, at one time of day, could write the book on goalkeeping errors. Considered too error prone to be a Liverpool regular, despite his undoubted shot-stopping prowess, James' England career also hit a snag when Leeds' (later Spurs) bright young thing Paul Robinson came along.

So, after Robinson went weak kneed under the arch against the Germans, you would be forgiven for pointing to the irony that the man they used to call 'Calamity James' is tipped to come to England's rescue in the forthcoming qualifiers for Euro 2008.

James, in fairness, has deservedly reversed his reputation as a dodgy keeper and claimed the record for the most clean sheets in Premiership history. Today, perhaps only Chelsea's Petr Cech and Newcastle's Shay Given are finer goalies.

Robinson may well pay for his mistake by surrendering his title as England's number one, especially when presented alongside his gaffe against Croatia, and some indifferent form for Tottenham as of late.

If this should occur, as widely expected if you are to believe the daily papers, then Robinson may well afford himself some self pity. Keepers are in the unique position where one mistake results in disaster.

Strikers get away with missing easy chances every now and then, and midfielders can miss passes, whilst defenders can lose the occasional man at the back post. Not goalkeepers though. An error is broadcasted and replayed to a death and analysed mercilessly.

Already this season we have seen Jens Lehmann of Arsenal blunder against Fulham and Blackburn, whilst Fulham's Tony Warner has notched up two stinkers of his own, and at the tail end of last season the knives were out for Edwin at Old Trafford.

The truth is that quality English goalkeepers are hard to come by. Robinson is the youngest of the current batch of serious contenders, who are himself and errr David James. In between the sticks is no place for inexperience, so Carson and Foster must bide their time.

The final choice lies with England manager Steve McLaren, posing the biggest selection dilemma, post-Beckham's exclusion, which he has had to ponder over.

The Devils lack a killer instinct

2007-08-20T01:11:00.001+01:00

THE FOOTBALLING PUBLIC demands a crisis. It's been over a week now and even Spurs have got a win, so no managerial beheadings, nor looting of the board rooms. Damn it. But what's this? Manchester United with no wins in three games? I smell blood.

And the smell of blood is what the United forwards filled their nostrils with for 90 minutes at Eastlands, they still got nothing though.

Pundits fell over themselves on Sunday afternoon television to declare them the 'new Arsenal': lots of pretty passing with gloriously technical players, not a single player to stab home a two yard wondergoal.

Ferguson bought well during the summer and Manchester United now have arguably the best midfield the Premiership has seen since the Beckham, Keane, Scholes, Giggs combination, only with extended depth.

Just ahead, the likes of Rooney and Tevez will create goals a plenty and weigh in with a few too. Yet, despite probably being the weakest member of the first choice XI, Louis Saha is the man that makes it all click.

He can be the fox in the box, although not in the same league as Ruud van Nistelrooy or Ian Wright in their heyday, Saha is the foil for the likes of Rooney and Tevez.

As it stands, United have not won in three and trail an ominously efficient Chelsea by five points. Last season, the Old Trafford boys would have won games like Sunday's against City, a goal would have gone in somewhere and that would be two extra points made. At the end of the season, that is what really separates the top two.

Chelsea bludgeoned a win against Reading during the week, thanks to a moment of inspiration from Drogba. Wins like this are every bit as responsible for winning the league as big wins against your rivals.

Providing the ailing American economy hasn't crippled the Old Trafford coffers, Fergie needs to splash out one more time on a goal poacher.

Rugby’s ‘Group of Death’ inevitable

2007-08-15T02:16:00.001+01:00

YOU CAN find angst filled coaches shaking their fists at a difficult draw in any major sporting tournament. The Rugby World Cup is no different. Argentina's recent fine form has seen them move to fifth in the IRB World Rankings, a real test for Ireland and France.

Of course, it is ridiculous to consider that one of the top six teams in the World will not make the quarter final stage in France (and Wales and Scotland).

Despite being fancied as a dark horse to go all the way, Ireland, ranked sixth, find themselves as third favourites behind Argentina and France (ranked 3^rd) to escape Group D.

The average ranking of the top three in this group is an exceptionally low 4.6, whilst in comparison Group C has an average of 6.6 (New Zealand, Scotland, Italy), which is still lower than the 7.3 of Group A (England, South Africa, Samoa) and Group B (Australia, Wales, Fiji).

Defenders of the organisers can point out that Group D is the only group without a past winner and that rankings fluctuate whilst the groups are selected years before.

Yet the imbalance is set to continue for tournaments to come unless the IRB changes their system.

For the 2011 tournament, the four semi-finalists will be seeded (presuming NZ are one of them) and the four quarter final losers will make up the second seeds.

Fair enough, you might say. But the faller out of the big three in the group of death will once again be unseeded, and will face the same problem in four years time with only the toughest route towards reversing this trend being a way out.

Rugby should be cautious of creating a system promoting the best eight teams, and locking out outsiders, as we have seen at the recent Cricket World Cup. For upsets do happen (see Ireland and Bangladesh), raining on the organisers parade. This approach also stifles the expansion of the game globally.

The IRB should consider a more open draw in the future, similar to that of its association football cousins and really add spice to the opening stages of the tournament without pulling the ladder out of reach of emerging rugby nations such as Argentina.

FIFA: England will not win 2018 World Cup

2007-08-10T02:39:00.001+01:00

NOT A PREDICTION, but a statement of fact, according to FIFA vice-president Jack Warner: England will not win the rights to stage the 2018 World Cup. Warner, in an interview with BBC's Alan Green, declared that nobody in Europe likes England and that he would fight to make sure Jules Rimet did not sit under Wembley's arch.

FIFA's rotation policy is due to come to an end for the 2018 bidding, after the 2014 tournament heads to South America and almost certainly to Brazil by default. If FIFA continued the policy it would have been Asia's turn, but with a lack of decent contenders, apart from the now Asian footballing nation of Australia, the governors are likely to open up the race.

How open the race could be exactly depends. Warner cites France, Spain and Italy as potential hosts in Europe, ahead of England. Yet should France be chosen, only four tournaments will have passed between their role of hosts in 1998, Italy had it in 1990 and Spain in 1982. England, I concur, must be next in the queue.

Word has it that the Benelux boys (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) are interested in entering the bidding as well, but it would strike even the most anti-Englishman funny if Luxembourg held a World Cup game before London.

Football deserves better from FIFA's leading men. Sepp Blatter has never dispelled rumours of corruption, and his right hand man – Jack Warner – was found to have pocketed $1m by reselling 2006 World Cup tickets by BBC's Panorama. It is not too dramatic to say the beautiful games' name is being sullied.

Warner, not for the first time, has his own interests to think of in this case. Being a Trinidadian of CONCACAF, he wants to see the tournament come to his part of the World. But why should it? The weakest of all the federations held the tournament in 1994 and it was hardly a great success. The only countries capable of holding it would be USA, hosts of 1994, Canada, hardly big players on the football scene, and Mexico, who have not expressed interest.

One might suggest that Warner's main motivation for a North American cup would be the ease at which he could abuse his power to sell on tickets.

W’ham, damn, we’ve spent our money on spam

2007-08-02T03:17:00.001+01:00

WEST HAM fans thought that their prayers were answered when Eggert Magnusson bought the club and announced his intention to elevate the Hammers up the league. And who could disagree thus far? His money, and Curbs' magic, saved them from relegation.

So phase one: consolidating Premiership status, has been a success. In the grand scheme of things, however, some Hammers fans have been dreaming of securing a Champions League spot one day in the future.

As promised, 'Eggy' has not been slow to open the chequebook. In January, West Ham gazumped Liverpool on Lucas Neill's wages to see him trade guaranteed Champions League football and a possible title challenge for a go at avoiding relegation and err… loadsa money.

Now don't get this blogger wrong, I too would have taken the obscene wages on offer. Lucas, I'm sure, is a businessman and the figures he was offered were ridiculous, but that's none of his concern – he just spends what he earns.

Poor old Lucas' wages have been done to a death though. And he is a defender arguably of top 4 quality, given that Liverpool have been after him, the rest of West Ham's signings may leave them a little short.

The lowlights of Wham's January spend included relegation specialist Nigel Quashie (down with Q.P.R, Forest, Southampton, West Brom) and Spurs reject Calum Davenport. Even the acquisition of Matthew Upson, a decent centre half, came at an extortionate £6m.

Six months later, July saw the addition of unloved keeper Richard Wright and Alan Shearer's best mate, Craig Bellamy. Even the much hyped signing of Julien Faubert came with embarrassment. He was called 'unspeakably stupid' by French boss Raymond Domenech, and that got injured the first time he put on a shirt. Good call, Raymond.

Any man would be foolish to underestimate the football brain of Alan Curbishley, so praise be to the signings of Freddie Ljungberg, whose experience should be an asset in any contest, and midfield dynamo Scott Parker.

Then the 'Rich Man's Steve McLaren' goes out of his way to blot his copy book again, obviously on a promise to keep his physio busy, he bids for Kieron Dyer.

In the negative column, the Hammers have lost their captain (Reo-Coker), their creator in chief (Benayoun) and the only striker they legally own that has scored goals in the Premiership (Harewood).

Over £40m has not bought West Ham a lot. Eggert Magnusson and co. could be in for a long season.

England’s Captain Fantastic

2007-07-30T23:05:00.001+01:00

MICHAEL VAUGHAN is likely to find himself on the losing side when the second test match against India ends tomorrow, however he proved his value as a top class batsman against an on form Indian attack in tricky conditions.

Only twelve months ago, after a series of failed comebacks, I predicted with some confidence that Vaughan would never play for England again. Today's innings of 124 was the best I have seen the Yorkshireman bat in a number of years.

His century contained 15 fours, which is fairly standard in a century. What made it spectacular was the grit he showed to settle himself in at the crease, knowing the size of the task ahead of him, and the gusto with which he seized any attempt to score runs.

Perhaps the finest strokes of Michael Vaughan's innings came against prolific spinner Anil Kumble, playing the ball late, under his eyeline, and finding the gaps in a tightly packed infield to push along England's score.

There was a rare reaction from Vaughan upon making his ton, a pumped fist towards the dressing room, or was it to those who doubted him and his captaincy after believing he should have declared earlier in the first test to leave more overs for victory?

Much is always made of Vaughan's ability as a captain and his value to the team with respected leadership and inventive field placings, whereas the calibre of his batting is only discussed when he is struggling. Today Vaughan demonstrated that he can not only lead, but lead by example.

England may feel they have lacked a bit of luck in this test (although try telling that to Tendulkar, who got a stinking lbw decision yesterday), and the captain copped the worst of it when his excellent stand was ended by a freak deflection off his thigh pad onto his wicket, when the ball was going harmlessly down the leg side.

The record books will show only one result tomorrow though, as India are racing certainties to seal victory and lead the series 1-0 going into the final test at the Oval. England must win this test in order to protect Vaughan's unbeaten home series record as captain, and stay unbeaten against anyone barring Australia since 1999.

Should India go on to win the series they may claim to be the second best side, behind Australia, in test cricket.

Le Tour’s credibility crisis

2007-07-26T19:33:00.001+01:00

FOLLOWING the withdrawal of two of the top cyclists in le Tour de France there have been no shortage of people willing to stick the knife into a competition being stripped of dignity by the day.

Cycling promised to enter a new age of cleanliness, fighting on after a savage mauling at the hands of the media through the Floyd Landis affair. Sitting in London, the public had seen quite enough of the ugly side of the game and we were all enthralled by le Tour as the prologue went through the capital to a great fanfare.

Roll on a few weeks and le Tour hits troubled times again. Some time tour leader Michael Rasmussen was dogged by suspicious tales of his drug testing past, such as the huge mystery of whether he was in Italy or Mexico. Finally, his team, Rabobank, called time on him and accused him of misleading them.

All this would be bad news under any circumstance, only to be considered much worse because Kazakhstan's golden boy, Alexandre Vinokourov, failed a drugs test, so forcing him and his team out of contention for this year at least.

Cycling fans must despair that a sport containing so many with so much ability can be continually tarnished by the cheating few, albeit a few that is growing in numbers every day. Others praise the work of the sport's governing body on chucking out the drugs cheats and point the finger at other sports for not clamping down so harshly.

However you look at it, leading personalities of the cycling world being turned away from the greatest event on their calendar, perhaps the only cycling tour which Joe Public takes any notice of, cannot be considered good news. Even if cycling is the best at catching dope cheats, this is negative publicity which the sport can ill afford.

Cycling will be hit in the pocket soon enough, with sponsors beginning to pull out, understandably not wishing to have their brand associated with doping offenders. The two broadcasters of le Tour in Germany halted coverage last week and more could follow unless the rest of the competition passes without incident.

Finances are only the short term pitfall for veloheads. How many parents will be encouraging their children to get into cycling seriously if the general perception is that the only way to win is by taking drugs? Such a statement may not be entirely true, if at all, but it is easy to understand how one could arrive at it.

For the good of cycling the tour must now be won by a clean champion who arrives down the Arc de Triomphe to a fanfare tickertape, not a caution note from the local gendarme.

Jarrod Cunningham – A true sporting hero

2007-07-24T17:05:00.001+01:00

JARROD'S spirited battle with Motor Neurone Disease ended on Sunday, five years after being told he only had 18 months to live. He was one of the finest players I have ever seen play for London Irish, and on a personal note, my sporting hero.

The first time I started watching rugby regularly was when London Irish were the guests at Harlequins' ground, The Stoop. JC, a fly-half or full back, was responsible for the kicking duties and ended my first season supporting Irish fully as the Premiership's leading scorer. Considering Irish were hardly prolific try scorers, this was all the more important.

I have many memories of JC slotting over pressure kicks with ease and making tries out of nothing for others. He was not against scoring them himself either, touching down 18 times in 82 games.

After being released by London Irish a few seasons later, he was taken on by Wasps, but could not find the form that he expected of himself so decided to retire. He consulted his doctor and was told that he had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a form of Motor Neurone Disease. There is no known cure for this illness.

For some, that would be near the end of the tale, but Jarrod was not the sort of man to lie down. He managed to keep himself going with a variety of methods, including positive thinking and lost none of his character. Better still, he set up the Jarrod Cunning SALSA foundation, bringing the illness to public light and finding new methods of fighting the illness. In that sense alone, Jarrod's legacy will live on.

Rugby supporters are close knit by nature and the way they rallied around Jarrod really brought out the best in the people involved with the game. The Harlequins players warming up in JC t-shirts, made and distributed by a group of fans, will stick long in the memory. Many other clubs and their fans also went a long way for Jarrod.

JC will be missed. A great player and a great man.

Bad light, bad luck

2007-07-24T00:59:00.001+01:00

ENGLAND looked set to complete a valuable victory, just before the light faded at Lord's. Monty Panesar's customary celebation may have well been a rain dance, or at least a bad light jig, as conditions never improved enough to return to the field.

Michael Vaughan's young charge of bowlers had India on the run for all five of the days, as admitted by India captain Rahul Dravid – but just could not find the twentieth wicket to take a 1-0 lead in a short three match series.

One must question why the Indians are being short changed in comparison to the West Indies, by only having a three match series compared to the Windies four, when they are clearly a much more suited competition. The throngs of Indian fans at Lord's on the final day must have at least doubled what the gate would have taken otherwise, and made a real atmosphere of an awkwardly doubtful Monday.

What will really irk England, however, is that this may be their best chance of the series. Batsmen of the class of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid will not misfire for entire series of cricket, and Vaughan can expect at least one Indian century in the next test starting on Friday.

Despite being tinged with the disappointment of coming so close to victory, this most definitely was a winning draw for Peter Moores' side.

There were fears of an inexperienced, toothless attack after the withdrawal of Steve Harmison, followed by the former ever-present Matthew Hoggard. England need not have worried. James Anderson looked closer to the finished article, Chris Tremlett bowled well without reward for long spells in the first innings, but still kept it tight – and Ryan Sidebottom used his maturity to step into the reliable Hoggard mould.

Out of the three seamers, if Hoggard was to return for Trent Bridge, Tremlett would be the man to miss out. He can count himself unfortunate if that were to be the case, as without approximately one third of the match being lost to light or rain, he would have helped bowl England to victory.

The heels of Liam Plunkett and Saj Mahmood will need to be kicked for a little while longer, as they are now well down the England pecking order, whilst Glamorgan's Simon Jones will need some special figures to alert the selectors again. Not to mention Stuart Broad.

India live to fight another day then and they will fight much harder in the future. Even if the result was not right for England, performances from young bowlers will stand them in good stead for the future.

Carnoustie fairer than Carnasty (and a rake of statistics to prove it)

2007-07-21T16:23:00.000+01:00

PAUL LAWRIE walked away from the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie with an unlikely major, registering a score of six over par. It was the worst score to win a major since Julius Boros in 1963. Hang on, who the hell is Paul Lawrie?

The Scotsman was unheard of before the event, and barring a decent Ryder Cup a couple of months later, was barely heard of again. He was lucky that Jean van de Velde had blown the Claret Jug in the burn, luckier still to be in contention at all.

This year, the first time the Open has returned to Carnoustie since 1999, the course is much friendlier. At the time of writing, -7 leads the tournament and it looks like a score of nine or ten under will be the winning score. Some sixteen shots better than Lawrie's effort, that's four shots a round.

In fact, since that major, there have been four other majors won by a par or worse score, none of which were won by the big five (Woods, Mickelson, Els, Singh, Goosen), often won by complete outsiders.

The US Open has a reputation for setting difficult courses, and since the turn of the millennium it is the only major where the big five have won less than half of the majors - just three out of eight.

2005 saw Michael Campbell, who had to do well in a qualifying event to get there, lift the trophy. Geoff Ogilvy, in 2006, took his first major, followed by journeyman Angel Cabrera this year.

Followed by Zach Johnson's shiny new green jacket from the Masters, all these men won their only major with scores of par or worse.

The argument is essentially this: tougher courses mean the tournament becomes more of a lottery and less a test of skill.

Not taking away anything from these winners, and acknowledging that the likes of Rich Beem and Shaun Micheel have won majors with under par scores, it would stand to reason that a fairer course leads to a better quality winner.

There are those who prefer struggling weekends for golfers, but if the integrity of major competitions is to remain, then courses - like the current Carnoustie - must offer birdie opportunities.

Does Roy Keane know what he's doing?

2007-07-19T16:14:00.000+01:00

DAVE JONES said that every player had his price, but surely even he could not believe that £5m was Michael Chopra's price. The striker, tossed away by Newcastle for a tenth of that price 12 months ago, had got a move back into the Premiership.

To be fair to (the phantom of the) Chopra (sorry), scoring 22 goals in 42 league games last season was a haul on par with David Nugent, who was called up to the England team. There is not a lot more you can ask from a striker.

Even the season before, the ex-Toon striker netted 17 goals from 38 starts for Barnsley. So, you can't fault his goal scoring record, averaging out at 0.4 goals per game.

The question is whether Chopra will be more like: a) Robert Earnshaw: a yo-yo striker, b) Andy Johnson: Premiership quality or c) Gregorz Rasiak: rubbish.

Moving on, Kieron Richardson from Manchester United came in for around the same £5m mark, or so we are told to estimate. After being on the fringes at Old Trafford, swanning around with John O'Shea and Darren Fletcher, no doubt, he has high tailed it.

Richardson is a rarity in England, a genuine left sided, left footed player. And for that, he is probably worth the money alone.

Keane can be heartened by Everton's Phil Neville, who was not that hot at OT, but has gone on to be a mainstay in Everton's side, a level which Sunderland would be perfectly happy with.

With Dickson Etuhu and perhaps Craig Gordon boosting the ranks, Sunderland will hope that the money pays off and they get the opportunity to invest as a proven top flight side this time next year.

Roy Keane can expect to be measured by the success of his signings, and at the moment, he gets the benefit of the doubt.

Monty: The Changing of the Guard

2007-07-18T23:57:00.000+01:00

THE TWO MEN could not be any more different: one a gruff, stone faced and dour golfer, the other a smiling, happy-go-lucky and infectiously enthusiastic cricketer - with only one coinciding feature - the nickname Monty.

So at just before 1pm, as Colin " Monty" Montgomerie chucks his ball to his caddie and goes off to sign his card on the opening day at Carnoustie, perhaps Michael Vaughan will ask Mudhsuden "Monty" Panesar to give it a rip before lunch at Lord's.

Montgomerie, many feel, has seen his time come and go as a major contender in the golfing world. After close brushes with success in both America and Europe, this Monty may now have to settle for the traditionally British mantle of gallant runner-up.

This is not a slight on the man's ability. Finishing second in any golfing tournament is no mean feat and the eight consecutive European Order of Merit titles he claimed will probably be a record that sticks.

But at the age of 44, only Jack Nicklaus can claim to have won a major in the autumn, going on November chill of his golfing career.

South of the border, at Lord's, Monty Panesar could well find himself as England's most experienced bowler, should Matthew Hoggard fail to recover from an injury in time.

Ludicrous as it may be that he was only considered a certain selection in the new Peter Moores regime, Monty must never have thought he would shoulder the hopes of a nation so soon.

The talents of the Northamptonshire slow left-armer have been much lauded and he has a record to prove it, with six five-wicket hauls in just 17 tests.

Panesar certainly has time on his side to go on and become a world beater, the same can not be said of Montgomerie, who could not convert his considerable ability into a tangible Claret Jug or a Green Jacket.

So, on one of the most iconic weekends of the British sporting summer, consider this to be the changing of the guard.