How I love thee.
He is a fine wine; a good cheese; Richard Geer... Just gets better the longer he's around.
His 106 in England's draw against Sri Lanka at Lord's was his 6th century in 9 matches. Yes, he's not a very quick scorer, and yes, that could well be a problem in ODIs (although I have faith that he'll be able to adapt his game from one format to the other), but when he's in he's a rock and that's exactly what England, and any side, need. He's a big, beautiful, looks-of-a-Grecian-God rock that players like Pieterson and Bell and Morgan can anchor themselves to. Plus he's really good to watch - he has a beautiful technique and more often than not these days looks serene on the crease. He's been playing amazingly over the past 6 months (will his Ashes triumph ever be repeated/bettered?) and to all those nay-sayers out there I ask you: what do you want??
I'll keep you blogged...
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
French Open Men's Final and Beyond
Well what a humdinger of a final it turned out to be.
When The Fed went 2 sets to love down people were dismissing him outright. Nadal in straights; same old same old. Nevermind that the first two sets had been more fiercely contested than I can remember at the French (since GoNads started winning), and that Fed had a chance in both sets to take them. It would have been a different story had Fed capitalised on his 5-2 lead in the first set and served it out, but GoNads produced some his best tennis of, lets face it, a pretty ropey (by his standards) torunament in order to claw his way back into the set and then break a rattled Fed, who, I'm sure, was wondering where the last few games had gone, to take the first set 7-5. In the second Nadal carried on his momentum and broke the Swiss early on but Fed is not a 16 time Grand Slam champion for nothing and he broke back to level at 5-5. The set was destined for a tie-break and we were all thinking Federer would get it and it would be game on... But he played an unusually bad (and poorly timed - although is it ever a good time?) breaker with weak shots to the middle of the court which GoNads' hungry forehand lapped up and soon enough the Fed was 2-0 down and when he went a break down early in the third the doom-sayers were toasting their predictions coming true.
Federer, however, had other ideas. He fought back to level the set and then had the audacity to break the 'King of clay' and win the third set with an assured service hold. It was a feat that, as my boyfriend's Dad said, 'raised the roof' on the Philippe Chatrier court. So we were into a fourth set in a French Open final for the first time since 2007 (which was another GoNads/Fed final) and rumblings of the five set epic at Wimbledon that these two shared in 2008 were in the air. Was it possible? On clay? Could Federer keep up with Nadal for five sets? Could he possibly push him all the way? Well, no. He lost the fourth set 6-1 and looked pretty slow and knackered by the end, but then, so did Nadal. When Federer pushed a tired forehand long on his first match point, GoNads flopped to the floor in tears (as is his way). His 6th Roland Garros is matched only by Bjorn Borg and with 10 Slams already, the 25 year old looks well on course to beat the Fed's record; a record many thought could never be surpassed.
From the glorious burnt orange of the clay to the bright green grass, Nadal will only have three days to recover from his historic win before his second round match against Australian qualifier and world number 168, Matthew Ebden. Ray-ray is also back in action today, after much talk of ankles and teeth, against Xavier Malisse who he has a 100% record against. He will look to make a bright and injury-free start to the incredibly short but all the more beautiful because of it grass court season. Also in action today are Arnaud Clement, Marin Cilic, and Juan Martin Del Potro. Roddick battled his way back from injury and a resistant Feliziano Lopez yesterday to win his second round match 7-6 6-7 6-4. Britain's James Ward pulled off a shock win against in-form Stanislav Wawrinka to progress into the third round of Queen's for the first time, 7-6 6-3.
Tennis quote of the week:
'There are few sights, in sport or life, as magnificent as Federer in full flow on a grass court.'
Rowan Emslie, June 2011
Here, here!
Elsewhere the CRICKET world has been alight with more England success and broken glass. The Test series against Sri Lanka started with a rain-delayed five days in Wales (what did you expect?) but ended in bright sunshine and inspired play. It looked set for a weather infested draw when Engand declared (after Bell had made his 100) on the last day with 50 overs to go. What followed was either a miracle or a complete Sri Lankan collapse, or a bit of both. England bowled Sri Lanka out in the fading light of that fifth day for a breath-taking 82; 10 wickets in 25 overs.
High expectations were carried through to Lord's and the second test, however a flat crease coupled with yet more rain delays brought about a similar situation on the last day - where England were ahead but short of another miracle a draw was all they could hope for. And this time a draw it was. An unusually obviously frustrated Strauss (perhaps due to being dismissed for two ducks) neither crtiticised or particularly praised his team, saying he could tell they had run their race when asked why he'd ended the match an hour before the scheduled close of play. This was only England's 2nd draw in their last 16 Tests. A Draw that Straussy, and probably the rest of the team, were none too pleased about, one senses. If England had won this series 3-0 they would have gone second in the ICC Test rankings, one step closer to their ultimate goal of becomming the number 1 Test side in the world. If that doesn't happen under Strauss's reign, it'll be a travesty.
I'll keep you blogged...
When The Fed went 2 sets to love down people were dismissing him outright. Nadal in straights; same old same old. Nevermind that the first two sets had been more fiercely contested than I can remember at the French (since GoNads started winning), and that Fed had a chance in both sets to take them. It would have been a different story had Fed capitalised on his 5-2 lead in the first set and served it out, but GoNads produced some his best tennis of, lets face it, a pretty ropey (by his standards) torunament in order to claw his way back into the set and then break a rattled Fed, who, I'm sure, was wondering where the last few games had gone, to take the first set 7-5. In the second Nadal carried on his momentum and broke the Swiss early on but Fed is not a 16 time Grand Slam champion for nothing and he broke back to level at 5-5. The set was destined for a tie-break and we were all thinking Federer would get it and it would be game on... But he played an unusually bad (and poorly timed - although is it ever a good time?) breaker with weak shots to the middle of the court which GoNads' hungry forehand lapped up and soon enough the Fed was 2-0 down and when he went a break down early in the third the doom-sayers were toasting their predictions coming true.
Federer, however, had other ideas. He fought back to level the set and then had the audacity to break the 'King of clay' and win the third set with an assured service hold. It was a feat that, as my boyfriend's Dad said, 'raised the roof' on the Philippe Chatrier court. So we were into a fourth set in a French Open final for the first time since 2007 (which was another GoNads/Fed final) and rumblings of the five set epic at Wimbledon that these two shared in 2008 were in the air. Was it possible? On clay? Could Federer keep up with Nadal for five sets? Could he possibly push him all the way? Well, no. He lost the fourth set 6-1 and looked pretty slow and knackered by the end, but then, so did Nadal. When Federer pushed a tired forehand long on his first match point, GoNads flopped to the floor in tears (as is his way). His 6th Roland Garros is matched only by Bjorn Borg and with 10 Slams already, the 25 year old looks well on course to beat the Fed's record; a record many thought could never be surpassed.
From the glorious burnt orange of the clay to the bright green grass, Nadal will only have three days to recover from his historic win before his second round match against Australian qualifier and world number 168, Matthew Ebden. Ray-ray is also back in action today, after much talk of ankles and teeth, against Xavier Malisse who he has a 100% record against. He will look to make a bright and injury-free start to the incredibly short but all the more beautiful because of it grass court season. Also in action today are Arnaud Clement, Marin Cilic, and Juan Martin Del Potro. Roddick battled his way back from injury and a resistant Feliziano Lopez yesterday to win his second round match 7-6 6-7 6-4. Britain's James Ward pulled off a shock win against in-form Stanislav Wawrinka to progress into the third round of Queen's for the first time, 7-6 6-3.
Tennis quote of the week:
'There are few sights, in sport or life, as magnificent as Federer in full flow on a grass court.'
Rowan Emslie, June 2011
Here, here!
Elsewhere the CRICKET world has been alight with more England success and broken glass. The Test series against Sri Lanka started with a rain-delayed five days in Wales (what did you expect?) but ended in bright sunshine and inspired play. It looked set for a weather infested draw when Engand declared (after Bell had made his 100) on the last day with 50 overs to go. What followed was either a miracle or a complete Sri Lankan collapse, or a bit of both. England bowled Sri Lanka out in the fading light of that fifth day for a breath-taking 82; 10 wickets in 25 overs.
High expectations were carried through to Lord's and the second test, however a flat crease coupled with yet more rain delays brought about a similar situation on the last day - where England were ahead but short of another miracle a draw was all they could hope for. And this time a draw it was. An unusually obviously frustrated Strauss (perhaps due to being dismissed for two ducks) neither crtiticised or particularly praised his team, saying he could tell they had run their race when asked why he'd ended the match an hour before the scheduled close of play. This was only England's 2nd draw in their last 16 Tests. A Draw that Straussy, and probably the rest of the team, were none too pleased about, one senses. If England had won this series 3-0 they would have gone second in the ICC Test rankings, one step closer to their ultimate goal of becomming the number 1 Test side in the world. If that doesn't happen under Strauss's reign, it'll be a travesty.
I'll keep you blogged...
Sunday, 5 June 2011
French Open Finals 2011
So Li Na becomes the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam singles title. She beat defending champion, Scary Schia, in straight sets, 6-3 7-6; a performance full of mature play, quick thinking, class shots and nerveless resolve. She was imperious in the first set against a nervy Schia and looked on course for a straightforward victory when 4-2 up in the second before she visibly tightened and allowed Schiavone back into the game. That's not to say that Schia didn't deserve it; she'd been doggedly working her way into the match and came good as Li tightened. Li, however, conquered her no doubt fluttering nerves (thinking of the estimated 330 million possible viewers in China alone, perhaps?) to take the set to a tie break, which she then completely dominated and won to love to complete her historic victory. Is this the beginning of an Asian, and more specifically, Chinese, uprising in tennis?
A stat I enjoy - Li and Schia's combined age yesterday was 60 years and 79 days (Li: 29 years and 98 days; Schia: 30 years and 346 days), making it the oldest women's Slam final since 1998.
Meanwhile Roger and Rafa are on court, Rafa having just won a hard-fought first set 7-5. Fed was up 5-2 and had a set point but GoNads doesn't know when to give up and won 5 straight games to clinch the first set, much to the Fed's disgust. He's now floundering in the 2nd set, with a break and more break points against him. He looks peeved...
I'll keep you blogged...
Thursday, 2 June 2011
I have been away, now I am back.
The French Open has been ticking away nicely in my absence and is gearing up for an explosive last few days. Mixed metaphors but you get the point. The women's draw has seen seeds falling left, right and centre and we have been left with a rather surprising final four show down:
Li Na v. Screamy Sharapova
Scary Schiavone v. Beastly Bartoli
I need a nickname for Li Na but can't think of one right now. Screamy seems back to her crushing best after she annihilated German Petkova 6-0 6-4. Her injuries (shoulder/elbow) have all but gone and she can even serve again. (Do you remember her serves when she came back from her shoulder injury? Very very bad form.) She was moving brilliantly and the penetration and length she got on her shots was nothing short of majestic. Petkovic could do nothing in the first set and Shara could do nothing wrong.
Li na continues a wonderful couple of years of winning and very entertaining press conferences and speeches (particularly enjoy when she talks about her husband) with a straight sets defeat of in-form but never-been-past-a-Grand-Slam-quarter-final Victoria Azerenka whose shrieks could be heard throughout Paris (as could Shara's on the other court) - 7-5 6-2. Thank God it won't be an Aza/Shazza semi final; the noise would have been too much to bear. Li Na can bring a little decorum to Shara's silly screaming.
In the other half Scary Schiavone saw off a sublime Pavlyuchenkova, who crushed Zvo on her way to her first Grand Slam quarter final. The teenage Russian is a 2011 sensation and many predict her to go far. Watch this space for more Pavly . Schiavone eventually came through the match 1-6 7-5 7-5, having, at one stage, been a set and 4-1 down. The defending champion will meet Beastly Bartoli in the semi-final who defeated a resurgent Kuznetsova 7-6 (7-4) 6-4. The double-handed Bartoli (do not understand double-handed forehand and backhand players - how do they do it?) looks in pretty good knick and Scary Schia will have to up her game if she wants to carry on defending her title and stop Bartoli from reaching her first Slam final.
Where there are no seeded ladies left, in the men's half there are only seeds:
Djoko v. The Fed
GoNads v. Ray-ray
Yes indeedy; the top four men are the only four men left in the competition. Where there is a lot to be said for seeds going out and seeing people you may not know much about and seeing a new winner of a Grand Slam... It's also pretty tasty when the only four players left in a tournament are the top four players in the world (according to rankings, of course). Who could resist the pull of Djoko/Fed? The man of the moment and the 16 time Grand Slam winner. Djoko has got the better of The Fed the last few times they've played but The Fed has looked in fine fettle thus far, not dropping a single set on his path to his 28th Slam semi. If Djoko wins on Friday he'll chalk up his 44th win in a row (42nd in 2011), will take the number 1 spot from GoNads and will still be on course for a Grand Slam (winning all four majors in a single year). Can he do it? I think probably yes.
The other semi involves the all-time great (especially at the French), world number 1 (for now) GoNads and the battling Briton, Andy Murray. Neither one of these players has had a straight-forward route to the semis - GoNads was given a scare in the very first round against John Isner who took him to five sets, and has openly admitted to struggling for form and confidence in his bid to retain his title and win it for a sixth time to match Bjorn Borg's record. His quarter-final performance against Soderling went a long way to settling his nerves, however, as he emerged a comfortable winner in straight sets - 6-4 6-1 7-6. Ray-ray, on the other hand, has had nothing but a torrid time of it. He rolled his ankle in the third round (against Berrer) and has been drugged up to the eye-balls and, except when on court, seems to have had a permanently frozen foot ever since in order to keep him fit, mobile, and, most importantly, on court. He has, perhaps miraculously, reached the semis of the French for the first time in his career. He says he feels good, is confident that he can beat GoNads if he plays tactical tennis, and is happy to have reached the semis now in all four Slams.
The time is 1300 hours; Ladies semi-finals here I come!
I'll keep you blogged...
The French Open has been ticking away nicely in my absence and is gearing up for an explosive last few days. Mixed metaphors but you get the point. The women's draw has seen seeds falling left, right and centre and we have been left with a rather surprising final four show down:
Li Na v. Screamy Sharapova
Scary Schiavone v. Beastly Bartoli
I need a nickname for Li Na but can't think of one right now. Screamy seems back to her crushing best after she annihilated German Petkova 6-0 6-4. Her injuries (shoulder/elbow) have all but gone and she can even serve again. (Do you remember her serves when she came back from her shoulder injury? Very very bad form.) She was moving brilliantly and the penetration and length she got on her shots was nothing short of majestic. Petkovic could do nothing in the first set and Shara could do nothing wrong.
Li na continues a wonderful couple of years of winning and very entertaining press conferences and speeches (particularly enjoy when she talks about her husband) with a straight sets defeat of in-form but never-been-past-a-Grand-Slam-quarter-final Victoria Azerenka whose shrieks could be heard throughout Paris (as could Shara's on the other court) - 7-5 6-2. Thank God it won't be an Aza/Shazza semi final; the noise would have been too much to bear. Li Na can bring a little decorum to Shara's silly screaming.
In the other half Scary Schiavone saw off a sublime Pavlyuchenkova, who crushed Zvo on her way to her first Grand Slam quarter final. The teenage Russian is a 2011 sensation and many predict her to go far. Watch this space for more Pavly . Schiavone eventually came through the match 1-6 7-5 7-5, having, at one stage, been a set and 4-1 down. The defending champion will meet Beastly Bartoli in the semi-final who defeated a resurgent Kuznetsova 7-6 (7-4) 6-4. The double-handed Bartoli (do not understand double-handed forehand and backhand players - how do they do it?) looks in pretty good knick and Scary Schia will have to up her game if she wants to carry on defending her title and stop Bartoli from reaching her first Slam final.
Where there are no seeded ladies left, in the men's half there are only seeds:
Djoko v. The Fed
GoNads v. Ray-ray
Yes indeedy; the top four men are the only four men left in the competition. Where there is a lot to be said for seeds going out and seeing people you may not know much about and seeing a new winner of a Grand Slam... It's also pretty tasty when the only four players left in a tournament are the top four players in the world (according to rankings, of course). Who could resist the pull of Djoko/Fed? The man of the moment and the 16 time Grand Slam winner. Djoko has got the better of The Fed the last few times they've played but The Fed has looked in fine fettle thus far, not dropping a single set on his path to his 28th Slam semi. If Djoko wins on Friday he'll chalk up his 44th win in a row (42nd in 2011), will take the number 1 spot from GoNads and will still be on course for a Grand Slam (winning all four majors in a single year). Can he do it? I think probably yes.
The other semi involves the all-time great (especially at the French), world number 1 (for now) GoNads and the battling Briton, Andy Murray. Neither one of these players has had a straight-forward route to the semis - GoNads was given a scare in the very first round against John Isner who took him to five sets, and has openly admitted to struggling for form and confidence in his bid to retain his title and win it for a sixth time to match Bjorn Borg's record. His quarter-final performance against Soderling went a long way to settling his nerves, however, as he emerged a comfortable winner in straight sets - 6-4 6-1 7-6. Ray-ray, on the other hand, has had nothing but a torrid time of it. He rolled his ankle in the third round (against Berrer) and has been drugged up to the eye-balls and, except when on court, seems to have had a permanently frozen foot ever since in order to keep him fit, mobile, and, most importantly, on court. He has, perhaps miraculously, reached the semis of the French for the first time in his career. He says he feels good, is confident that he can beat GoNads if he plays tactical tennis, and is happy to have reached the semis now in all four Slams.
The time is 1300 hours; Ladies semi-finals here I come!
I'll keep you blogged...
Thursday, 12 May 2011
Reign of Djoko?
Djoko is rampant. He is dead set on toppling GoNads off the number 1 spot and looks well on his way to doing just that. He clocked up his 33rd straight win of the season by beating Lukasz Kubot at the Rome Masters 6-3 6-0. He took just over an hour to see off the Polish qualifier and goes into the third round with that number 1 spot if not likely, then at least achievable – if he wins and GoNads doesn’t make it past the quarter-finals, he’s world number 1.
GoNads not making it past the quarters? Impossible! Jog on, Djoko, there’s no way that’s… What now? He nearly went out to a qualifier ranked 148 in the world? This doesn't sound like the Nadal we all know but for the third consecutive match GoNads lost the first set and had to play some rather unattractive, desperate tennis to fight his way back into the game. He eventually beat Paolo Lorenzi 6-7 6-4 6-0 but the scoreline doesn't reflect the story. Only in the third set did Nadal find anything close to his clay-court best, a fact that Djoko will relish. For most of the match Nadal played short, slow balls which his delighted opponent dealt with admirably as GoNads missed smashes, hit shot long and wide and generally looked a little tired and hugely beatable.
Could tennis see the first world No1 player that is neither The Fed or GoNads since 2003? I think by the time Wimbledon rolls out its beautiful green grasses that will be the case.
There have been two sad deaths in sport this week:
The great Seve Ballesteros died, aged 54, after a long battle with cancer. Seve won three Opens and two Masters amongst his 87 career titles. He also played a huge part in many Ryder Cups, winning 22 1/2 points from 37 matches as well as captaining the European team in its 1997 victory.
Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt died after crashing during Monday's third stage of the Giro D'Italia. The 26 year-old is thought to have died instantaneously although paramedics worked on him for more than half an hour. His death has, inevitably, led to a look into safety in Cycling.
I'll keep you blogged...
Friday, 6 May 2011
Grammar
Have just re-read my post earlier today and feel sick at all the grammatical errors. That's what you get for sneaking in a post at work. Egads!
I'll keep you blogged...
Making a come back...
A few weeks ago, after the Spurs/Arsenal game (3-3 draw, excrutiating to watch if you're an Arsenal fan), I was asked whether I was a football fan, or an Arsenal fan. Initially poo-pooing the question as moot I spat out a speedy reply insisting they were one and the same - how could I like Arsenal if I don't like football? On reflection, however, I've come to understand the deeper meaning of that question; the subtleties.
So I've been asking myself these past few weeks; am I a football fan or a team fan? I want to say I'm a football fan. I want to revel in the purity of the game itself. I want to be able to sit back and appreciate a great game between Stoke City and Birmingham, or Reading and QPR, or Lancaster FC and Witton Albion and think 'Yes, what a brilliant game - definitely not a total waste of two hours that I'm never going to get back.' But, you see, the problem is... I don't feel that way. I find the majority of football games exceedingly dull. I couldn't watch one of those matches and not get itchy feet, even if it was a brilliant, enthralling, end-to-end stuff. Does this make me a team fan only? I'm not sure. Because I have seen entire matches that don't involve Arsenal (or England) that have captured my full attention. They just happen very rarely.
Also, I'm not convinced about how much of an Arsenal fan I am. I know people who are willing to die for their team. People who travel all over the country to watch them lose 5-0 in the pouring rain and freezing cold. People who can't sleep for fear of their teams being relagated, or joy at them being promoted. People who would never wash again should their favourite footballer happen to spit in their direction.
I've never seen Arsenal live. I probably never will. The idea of going to an Arsenal game scares me. I will watch cricket and tennis all day long - I wish I could watch cricket and tennis all day long - I dream of watching cricket and tennis all day long... I've never, not once, dreamed about Arsenal.
I feel wretched and throw things if they lose, especially when they throw away major opportunities (Carling Cup final... Countless times this season where Man U have given them an opening and they've lost feebly to a Wigan or a West Ham...), and I would be incredibly happy if they ever decided to win anything again, but my life would not change, my world would not rock, and I would most definitely not lose any sleep over it. I doubt I would even have sweaty palms.
Must I conclude, then, that not only am I not a football fan, I am also only a fair-weather Arsenal fan?
Elsewhere in sport Ray-ray is not having a good time of it. Having lost in the first round of all three of his tournaments post Aussie Open final drubbing by wonder-boy Djoko, he finally made an impression in Monte Carlo where he pushed eventual winner GoNads in the semi-final all the way. This was, we predicted, his come-back. His path back to winning ways and the majestic tennis we know he can play. He then had to pull out of Barcelona with an elbow injury and made his competitive return in Madrid this week by beating dangerous Giles Simon in three ragged sets. With Nadal's prediction of Ray-ray doing well on clay and being a threat to him, we once again thought, 'Ok, great, here we go' only for Ray-ray to limp out pathetically to world number 36, Brazillion Thomaz Bellucci, 6-4 6-2. Ho hum. He still has no coach and who knows how much that, as well as all the media attention it attracts, is affecting him?
English cricket has had a re-shuffle and a great furore it has caused! Personally, I think it could work out beautiful. The basis is this:
*Strauss will be Test captain
*Cook will be ODI captain
*Broad will be Twenty20 captain
They will work together, with Strauss as the McDaddy, but will be individually in charge of their format of the game. Three seperate captains has not been attempted before and sports journalist everywhere are panicking and predicting doom and gloom. Yes, Cook hasn't actually played in an ODI match since early last year and Broad hasn't captained a team since he was at school, but everyone has to start somewhere, right? Strauss was once a young, inexperienced captain and now look at him - poised, eloquent, confidence exuding from every pore, and with many a success to back up that belief in himself and his team. I think Cook and Broad deserve their time to shine and with Strauss acting as advisor and the three of them sharing their ideas, England could become a formidable team in all three areas of the game.
That, my dear dear readers, is that.
I'll (I promise!) keep you blogged...
So I've been asking myself these past few weeks; am I a football fan or a team fan? I want to say I'm a football fan. I want to revel in the purity of the game itself. I want to be able to sit back and appreciate a great game between Stoke City and Birmingham, or Reading and QPR, or Lancaster FC and Witton Albion and think 'Yes, what a brilliant game - definitely not a total waste of two hours that I'm never going to get back.' But, you see, the problem is... I don't feel that way. I find the majority of football games exceedingly dull. I couldn't watch one of those matches and not get itchy feet, even if it was a brilliant, enthralling, end-to-end stuff. Does this make me a team fan only? I'm not sure. Because I have seen entire matches that don't involve Arsenal (or England) that have captured my full attention. They just happen very rarely.
Also, I'm not convinced about how much of an Arsenal fan I am. I know people who are willing to die for their team. People who travel all over the country to watch them lose 5-0 in the pouring rain and freezing cold. People who can't sleep for fear of their teams being relagated, or joy at them being promoted. People who would never wash again should their favourite footballer happen to spit in their direction.
I've never seen Arsenal live. I probably never will. The idea of going to an Arsenal game scares me. I will watch cricket and tennis all day long - I wish I could watch cricket and tennis all day long - I dream of watching cricket and tennis all day long... I've never, not once, dreamed about Arsenal.
I feel wretched and throw things if they lose, especially when they throw away major opportunities (Carling Cup final... Countless times this season where Man U have given them an opening and they've lost feebly to a Wigan or a West Ham...), and I would be incredibly happy if they ever decided to win anything again, but my life would not change, my world would not rock, and I would most definitely not lose any sleep over it. I doubt I would even have sweaty palms.
Must I conclude, then, that not only am I not a football fan, I am also only a fair-weather Arsenal fan?
Elsewhere in sport Ray-ray is not having a good time of it. Having lost in the first round of all three of his tournaments post Aussie Open final drubbing by wonder-boy Djoko, he finally made an impression in Monte Carlo where he pushed eventual winner GoNads in the semi-final all the way. This was, we predicted, his come-back. His path back to winning ways and the majestic tennis we know he can play. He then had to pull out of Barcelona with an elbow injury and made his competitive return in Madrid this week by beating dangerous Giles Simon in three ragged sets. With Nadal's prediction of Ray-ray doing well on clay and being a threat to him, we once again thought, 'Ok, great, here we go' only for Ray-ray to limp out pathetically to world number 36, Brazillion Thomaz Bellucci, 6-4 6-2. Ho hum. He still has no coach and who knows how much that, as well as all the media attention it attracts, is affecting him?
English cricket has had a re-shuffle and a great furore it has caused! Personally, I think it could work out beautiful. The basis is this:
*Strauss will be Test captain
*Cook will be ODI captain
*Broad will be Twenty20 captain
They will work together, with Strauss as the McDaddy, but will be individually in charge of their format of the game. Three seperate captains has not been attempted before and sports journalist everywhere are panicking and predicting doom and gloom. Yes, Cook hasn't actually played in an ODI match since early last year and Broad hasn't captained a team since he was at school, but everyone has to start somewhere, right? Strauss was once a young, inexperienced captain and now look at him - poised, eloquent, confidence exuding from every pore, and with many a success to back up that belief in himself and his team. I think Cook and Broad deserve their time to shine and with Strauss acting as advisor and the three of them sharing their ideas, England could become a formidable team in all three areas of the game.
That, my dear dear readers, is that.
I'll (I promise!) keep you blogged...
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