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| Strauss hints at retaining Bell and Cook for second Test • 'There would have to be strong reasons for us to change'• England captain suggests he made wrong call in first TestBoxing Day Tests have peculiar pitfalls. They can be fun to watch, tricky to play in. It's not so straightforward for the players to focus single-mindedly on the task ahead. Christmas on tour can be an obstacle to hurdle (I know, the same can apply back home). It's easy to pine for the rest of the family and not so difficult to drown any sorrows.Andrew Strauss at a soggy Kingsmead outlined the challenge today. "We have to avoid slipping too much into the Christmas spirit. There won't be the same festive cheer as when you are back home in England with a few bottles of red and a mid-afternoon snooze."On Christmas Day England will practise in Durban (weather permitting); there will be a couple of meetings though there will be also time to unwrap the presents with the kids and see what Santa has come up with.Strauss may be just as concerned to observe what lies under the covers at Kingsmead as the match draws nearer. As ever the first sighting of the pitch aroused the antennae of pace bowlers, young and old. On Christmas Eve it was green and grassy under an overcast sky. It may be very different on Boxing Day, but if the cloud remains, which is anticipated, the chances are that the captain winning the toss will bowl first.This may be a slightly trickier decision for Strauss than Graeme Smith. Strauss more or less admitted that - with hindsight - he should have batted first in last week's Test. "You can often be proved wrong [when assessing pitches before the game] as we were to an extent at Centurion. We thought it would do more on the first day."However the "once bitten, twice shy" mantra is not the way to make cricketing decisions. Unlike at Centurion it might be a good toss to win at Kingsmead. Smith, as well as Strauss, might bowl first here.Strauss hinted that England would keep the same side. "There would have to be strong reasons for us to change," he said and like the good captain he is, he expressed confidence in the two batsmen, who are struggling, Ian Bell and Alastair Cook. "I don't want to put batsmen under pressure after one game. Both are doing all the right things off the field and I'm very comfortable that both have the character to come through."If the sun comes out, then there will be more hard graft for bowlers, whom Strauss thought, "did a good job in the first Test. The first 20 overs are crucial with the Kookaburra ball," he said. "Both sides struggled to make breakthroughs with the old ball at Centurion."There was some half-hearted sparring about where the momentum lay after that first Test (Smith has been around long enough not to get so animated anymore about this - and it's not really Strauss's style). "I'm quite comfortable about how we played in the first Test apart from that one bad session. And we were buoyed to get through. It can hurt you, having the opposition nine wickets down at the end without clinching victory. We experienced that against India at Lord's and in Antigua last winter."Whereupon cordial Christmas greetings were exchanged and we all eagerly awaited the advent of Boxing Day and the start of the second Test. After all, that's why we are here.England in South Africa 2009-2010South Africa cricket teamEngland Cricket TeamCricketVic Marksguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Darren Bent keeps cool head as injuries leave Steve Bruce hot under the collar Even though this was only a third positive away result of the season for Sunderland, who had nine players missing, it was not a match that will live long in Steve Bruce’s memory. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Pacquiao to fight Clottey, not Mayweather • Filipino to fight Ghanaian at new Cowboys Stadium• 'We're going to promote this like it was the Super Bowl'The Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has welcomed the opportunity to host world championship boxing at the new Cowboys Stadium after Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey's welterweight clash was confirmed for 13 March in Texas.In the wake of the collapse of the proposed Pacquiao megafight with Floyd Mayweather Jr on the same date, the Filipino has opted to defend his WBO title against Clottey of Ghana.Jones was convinced the fight would sell the 40,000 tickets necessary for a capacity crowd once his stadium was configured for boxing."I have wanted to bring a major boxing event to north Texas for many years, so why not bring in the biggest and the best?" Jones said. "Manny Pacquiao is boxing's number one pound-for-pound attraction and the world champion."Manny defending his title against Joshua Clottey is not just a great fight, it's a great event, and one we can showcase to the fullest in Cowboys Stadium. We're going to promote this like it was the Super Bowl."The Top Rank chairman and Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum said Jones had convinced him Cowboys Stadium, which on Saturday hosted more than 100,000 fans for the NFL play-off victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, was an ideal fit."Jerry Jones knows exactly how big and important this event is which is why it was so easy to put this deal together," Arum said. "If Jerry could sell me on Cowboys Stadium and the North Texas market, you know he is going to have no problems selling out Cowboys Stadium."We are ready to roll up our sleeves and promote Manny's debut as world welterweight champion."Pacquiao cemented his status as the best pound-for-pound fighter when he won the WBO welterweight title with a 12th-round knockout of Miguel Cotto, who was also Clottey's last opponent. New York-based Clottey lost a split decision to the Puerto Rican at Madison Square Garden last June.Pacquiao's victory over Cotto in Las Vegas last November set up a proposed encounter with the unbeaten Mayweather Jr, but the two camps failed to agree terms for a 13 March bout following a row over pre-fight blood testing and Arum moved quickly to secure an alternative fight.Manny PacquiaoBoxingguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Eddie Butler's verdict on England's Six Nations squad Despite England's inclusion of Shontayne Hape and Chris Ashton, Martin Johnson has resisted wholesale changesWhat did you expect? Revolution? You only had to see the names of the props – Julian White, Andrew Sheridan, Tim Payne and David Wilson – to know that the big fingers of Martin Johnson had taken the burning fuse and snuffed out the fire. Dan Cole and Matt Mullan will have to go down the road of Saxon convention before being thrust into the full England team.Or at least they'll have to wait until the end of the month when, among others, Sheridan will have his injury reassessed. So, while the young Cole has to wait, the prop he inconvenienced at Welford Road at the weekend, Tim Payne of Wasps, retains his place in the elite squad. It all depends on how you interpret current form, I suppose.At scrum-half Harry Ellis survives an inconvenience of his own – of hardly having played this season – to see off the challenge for the moment of Ben Youngs, who, along with Cole, has done so much to make Leicester the force of the hour. Current form can take many shapes, like good posture, in Ellis's case, on the physio's bench.There is something in the small print of the Treaty of Versailles, or whatever the concord is called that allows the England manager some sort of control over the best players in his land, that restricts the number of changes he can make. Perhaps Johnson is abiding by the letter of the contract, which makes him unique in salary-capped England, a law-abiding citizen.Chris Ashton forces his way into the squad at the expense of David Strettle, a reward for the one for being in red-hot form and a price paid by the other for making a couple of mistakes at just the wrong moment. Jordan Crane retains his place at No8, presumably because of his contribution to the collective effort at Leicester, rather than for anything he has done as an individual. When he goes off-message Crane can be a liability.Shontayne Hape, on the other hand, is included for what he might bring to the midfield by way of spontaneity. The path of former league players into the England three-quarter line – with Jason Robinson a stunning exception – has not always been smooth, but they seem to understand the absolute priority to run a straight line, a direction not always visible last autumn.Lee Mears returns after injury, but in place of George Chuter, not Steve Thompson, on whom light continues to fall after the gloomy times he endured after 2003. He won the World Cup, went into a dark place and then wrecked his neck. His return is a triumph for the powers of reinvigoration on offer through rugby.Courtney Lawes is there and his chances of a place in the match-day 22 must be enhanced by his recent effectiveness as a No6 for Northampton. Or will he suffer for being an all-rounder, bound to walk in Engo-limbo like Ben Foden and Mathew Tait, both of whom have been retained?This is not time for anything but positive thoughts about how this England squad might brighten up the Six Nations. Except that if the back-line from 10 to 15 went something like Wilkinson, Flutey, Hape, Ashton, Cueto and Armitage D, there would only be Mark Cueto as a pure product of the rugby union nurseries of England. And even the Sale winger preferred football to rugby until he was 17.Jonny Wilkinson has been born again – on many fronts – in France while Delon Armitage was raised there. Ashton and Hape are from league, and Hape and Riki Flutey are from New Zealand, as is Dylan Hartley. I don't care where people come from, but there are grounds to suspect that formal progress through the age groups of England is as joyless as their play at Twickenham last autumn.All that investment in a pathway that makes for dull play ... this squad suggests that there is a note of protest in Johnson's selection after all.England rugby union teamMartin JohnsonSix Nations rugbyRugby unionEddie Butlerguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Gylfi Sigurdsson the hero of Reading triumph BRIAN LAWS had to wait until his 49th year to become a manager at a Premier League club. It has taken only 10 days for him to realise that it is no bed of roses. Shortly after he had introduced himself to the Burnley players, they were trudging off the Old Trafford pitch following a 3-0 beating by Manchester United. Now he has discovered what it is like for a Premier League team to be knocked out of the FA Cup by lower-league opposition. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |