TOP 100 SPORT SITES
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| Imperious Graeme Smith puts South Africa in impregnable position A record second-wicket stand in Test matches on this ground, 230 in just 54 overs, between Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla has left South Africa in an apparently impregnable position in this third Test. Only two results now appear possible and England will have to bat remarkably well in their second innings if they are to have any chance of saving the match. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Eddie Butler: England enjoy improved outlook The roundheads held sway in the autumn but cavalier talents are back to form and fitness as the Six Nations approachesAfter a joyless autumn that was like some sort of puritanical test of the paying public's will power, Martin Johnson will announce on Wednesday the England elite squad for the next trial in the devil's playground, the Six Nations. It is hardly likely that the manager, more the Lord Protector now, will have discovered jollity since November, or that Twickenham, in a pang of guilt, will have reduced admission charges for February and March. But there is always the consolation of imagining that it is simply impossible ever again to have less value for money.Such were the injuries in the autumn that Johnson could have survived three hidings, but he emerged with his reputation damaged after a win over Argentina and defeats by Australia and New Zealand because of a lack of imagination in selection and strategy.England were hobbled by caution. One try, by Matt Banahan, and a string of penalties and drop goals by Jonny Wilkinson kept jeers closer to the crowd's lips than "Swing low ..."Things look brighter now, if only because in the one position that still offers a little more freedom on the field, England are spoilt for choice. Ben Foden makes mistakes under the high ball – as in sometimes he misses it completely – but the Northampton full-back remains more faithful to his instinct to counterattack than to the mantra of playing safe and kicking. For that alone he deserves a start.But will he be given one ahead of Delon Armitage, back from injury and back into his silky stride at London Irish? Armitage was a rarity, a selection gamble that paid off for Johnson, in the autumn of 2008, and the manager may want to protect his protege by keeping him in the 15 shirt, even if another exciting possibility presents itself.Armitage has experience at outside-centre with his club and England badly need some midfield variety. Mike Tindall could always organise a defence well but Armitage might just loosen the grip on the blinkers, or at least convert some of England's lateral running into forward motion.The most important player in the England three-quarter line may be the person inside either Armitage or, if a more conventional selection policy is pursued, Dan Hipkiss. Riki Flutey has hardly played this season, thanks to a shoulder injury, but coaches are always looking for fresh players in the Six Nations camps that will dot the continent until early spring. As he showed on the Lions tour last year, with his knee, Flutey is resolute when it comes to recovering against the odds.Anthony Allen would, like Hipkiss at 13, present a dependable alternative at 12, and would bring familiarity to an area where England have often played like strangers. Allen has settled into an efficient working relationship with Hipkiss at Leicester.But how about trying Jonny Wilkinson at 12? It has been put forward as a possibility many times as doubts about Wilkinson's management of a game have surfaced. He works best under orders, not as a barker of them. It still seems slightly strange, all these years down the line, that he never turned out to be officer material. Instead he is Jonny, a foot soldier.England went through the autumn with Ugo Monye or Mark Cueto at full-back, the one wincingly bad and the other most dependable. Putting Foden at the rear would release both back to their natural habitat on the wings, where presumably they would be first choice, at the expense of Banahan.Is there no place in the squad for a fourth winger – for David Strettle, say, slightly out of sorts at the moment but a player who can create something out of little? And no space for Mathew Tait, finally spared from wandering up and down in limbo, never landing on a position?If Wilkinson shuffles along one to inside-centre that opens up the fly-half position for Toby Flood: the apprentice at Newcastle now the Leicester play-maker, telling Jonny what to do. That would test Jonny's quantum Zen, and he would no doubt pass with the utmost dignity, accepting the rationale with one of those sentences of his that never quite reaches a full stop.And the back-up to Flood? There's always Jonny, and presumably Andy Goode's number remains etched into Johnson's mobile. If England need to nurture somebody for the future, they might have to look at Shane Geraghty, although by the way he has played since the autumn it seems that England duty may do him more harm than good.Or there is the player who is currently keeping Geraghty out of the Northampton team, Stephen Myler. It may all depend on a private chat between my Lord Cromwell – Johnson – and Jim Mallinder, coach of the Saints and not one to suffer fools. Perhaps Mallinder, out of nostalgic northern spirit, would put forward Sale's Charlie Hodgson, especially for those games with less heavy traffic coming down Charlie's channel – though for the life of Jim he would struggle to specify what games they might be.The other Hodgson, Paul, may be one of the scrum-halves, alongside Danny Care, two little bundles of industry who have not yet managed to run their England packs with the authority they impose at London Irish and Harlequins. It is one of those telling differences between club and international rugby that precision is more important than bossiness. The first priority is not to organise others but to be meticulous with your own delivery.Leicester's Ben Youngs – as had Joe Simpson at Wasps before his injury – has thrust himself forward as a different kind of scrum-half, bigger of frame, more explosive from the base. England have a choice now, just as Wales can choose between Mike Phillips and Dwayne Peel.The biggest crisis in the autumn for England came in the front row, where they lost Phil Vickery, Lee Mears and Andrew Sheridan. Only Mears is back playing and he will presumably take his place in the hooking mix with George Chuter and Dylan Hartley. Steve Thompson's wonderful re-emergence out of retirement at Brive may have been but a cameo.The good news is that three bright young props have emerged, two through prolonged exposure, at Leicester and Newcastle, and the other in snatches at Worcester: Dan Cole, Jon Golding and Matt Mullan, one tighthead and two looseheads. Cole has become the prop of the moment, and when you think of all the expensive props earning a crust in the Guinness Premiership it means he has learnt a great deal in difficult working conditions.Tim Payne of Wasps is still there on the loosehead, while David Wilson at least shares the theme of working in difficult conditions, since he plays at Bath. Is there a place for a young all-rounder, a prop who can play on both heads, like Paul Doran-Jones of Gloucester?The second row is traditionally one of England's hot spots, and there seems little reason to worry about their lineout presence. But might there be room for someone built more of elastic than oak? For Nick Kennedy, that is, especially now that the ageless Simon Shaw provides the ballast of 10 men.And since Courtney Lawes seems to have settled into the No6 shirt at Northampton, might he not offer a different sort of charm there from, say, Tom Croft? They will both be in the squad and maybe in the match-day 22, but one comes with guile and the other with grunt. Lawes is the noisy one.On the open side Tom Rees has been absent through injury for so long he is almost off the radar but Steffon Armitage does come as a similar compact, bustling package, even if his first taste of the international game was a bit more harrowing than Rees's. The younger Armitage brother nevertheless deserves another spell in the squad, despite Lewis Moody being the favourite to start in the No7 shirt. The Leicester lunatic does not seem to get himself banged about quite as much as he used to, which means he can run around as only he can for longer.A major relief for Cromwell must be the return of Nick Easter at No8. Rapped for being a bit one-dimensional, Easter has subtle skills beneath his crouched, one-yard gains. An offloading No8 is perhaps the most influential player on the modern field.The England squad is announced on Wednesday, with no promise of a spot for anyone. It is the nature of the modern game that after four months of visible activity, as much will be decided behind the doors that will soon close behind all the Six Nations squads. A general sifting and sorting has taken place, but the serious business of selection and strategy starts now. Has puritanism had its day in the England of the Lord Protector?Six Nations: 6 Feb - 20 MarchEngland rugby union teamSix Nations rugbyRugby unionMartin JohnsonEddie Butlerguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Morgan snapped up at IPL auction • 'Nerve-racking' morning as Morgan is bought for £134,000• Only England player to arouse interest at auctionEoin Morgan endured a "nerve-racking" morning before being bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for $220,000 (£134,000) in the Indian Premier League auction. The Dubliner was the only England player to be purchased today as a host of big names failed to attract the interest of the eight franchises.Despite impressing on the tour of South Africa, Graeme Swann went unsold, as did Australia's Brad Haddin, while Shahid Afridi was just one of the many Pakistani players who failed to attract interest. However, the short-form specialist Morgan, 23, will join his fellow England batsman Kevin Pietersen in southern India after the Royal Challengers bettered the $210,000 bid from the Super Kings Chennai."I'm very happy," said the Irishman. "I was at home watching it on the internet. I hadn't planned to watch it and my housemate said he would watch for me but I couldn't sleep this morning and I came in about 15 minutes before my pool."It was nerve-racking. It was weird, it was like playing Championship manager, watching the text come up," he said of the online coverage of the auction. "The big shock for me was Shahid Afridi. After seeing him not get a gig I thought I would struggle but once it came up that Bangalore had bid for me I knew I was sorted."Morgan, whose innovative and exciting batting style is born of a childhood playing hurling, is "pretty sure" he will be available for the full six weeks of the tournament, which begins on 12 March, one week after the third and final one-day international between England and Bangladesh. The Middlesex player has played in India three times, twice with his county and once with the England academy, but he admits to being unfamiliar with most of his new team-mates. "I don't know many of their Indian players but I have seen them play as I watched the previous IPLs. They have a very strong side, with the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Jesse Ryder and Jacques Kallis."The only other England-based player to be purchased was Hampshire's Michael Lumb, but his $50,000 deal with the Rajasthan Royals was finalised outside the auction room, as he has never played international cricket. Mark Ramprakash, Tim Bresnan, Anthony McGrath, Jonathan Trott, Monty Panesar and Robert Key also went unsold.IPLTwenty20CricketMikey Staffordguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Andy Murray will need to pass muster as tall order awaits in fourth round Andy Murray’s mood cannot be improved upon, as he touches fists with Brad Gilbert, his former coach, at the end of a TV interview and chats to a knot of British writers while climbing a precarious flight of steps, excellent preparation for the challenge that awaits in the fourth round of the Australian Open tomorrow. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Rio Ferdinand denies violent conduct charge Rio Ferdinand is free to face Manchester City in this evening's Carling Cup semi-final, second leg after he denied an FA charge of violent conduct. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |