Firstly I would like to say sorry for not posting for six months, but I have been busy with my GCSEs and currently AS levels.
I suppose the main issue in sport at the moment is the Indian cricket racism row. It’s all very complicated, Harbhajan Singh has been accused of calling Andrew Symonds a "monkey" and now Singh has accused Brad Hogg of racial abuse. They have both been banned pending appeals. Quite frankly, Harbhajan Singh has been in trouble for this sort of thing before after an incident with Ricky Ponting, and if he did make another comment, the ICC should quite literally "throw the book at him". There is no room for this type of unsporting behaviour in any sport and anyone found guilty of it should be banned for life.
What followed this should bring the whole of the Indian cricketing game to shame. First, they accuse Umpire Steve Bucknor of giving a number of decisions to the Australians and demand that the ICC replace him. Then upon hearing that Singh had been banned, they decided to suspend their tour until the ICC withdrew the ban. This sort of action should be severely reprimanded, and is highly irresponsible of the Indian Cricket Association. What example does this set to up and coming athletes? If decisions don't go your way, use blackmail to get what you want? It's ridiculous. This could be an under-hand move to try to over-shadow the race row, and it if is, for me, it has worked. In all honesty, if the Indian Cricket Association is going to behave like this, then we don't need them in the game, and they should be banned from competing until they learn to accept punishments and to play by the rules.
Anyway, that’s the end of my cricket rant. On a lighter note, it is nice to see the English teams away from any negative press for a change. In tennis, Andy Murray has won his fourth ATP Tour title at the 2008 Qatar ExxonMobil Open, moving him up to 9th in the World rankings. It’s good to see a Brit finally doing well in, well anything really. No that’s not fair, I mean, Paula Radcliffe’s not bad is she?
Away from tennis, Fabio Capello has started his new job as England football team manager as of Monday. His first job is to travel to the Croatian capital of Zagreb to organise the fixtures for the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers on the 31st January. He has already been spotted on scouting missions at Aston Villa v Man United and Luton Town v Liverpool. It’s good to see he has taken by Sven Goran Eriksson’s example by attending matches and making public appearances regularly.
I hope to attend Charlton v Blackpool this weekend and I will hopefully have a report by the end of this Sunday.
Showing posts with label Cricket. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cricket. Show all posts
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
Tuesday, 17 April 2007
The Weekends football
So it'll be a United Chelsea FA cup final. Im not sure this is good news or bad. I was kind of hoping that it would be Watford Blackburn so that everyone would say it was an insignificant final, being the first at the new Wembley and next years would be the proper one, like a dress rehearsal. Not to be though, and i suppose it is a good thing, the first final at Wembley being a showcase event, although of course i'd rather it was Arsenal or Charlton.
The Premiership was exiting as usual this weekend, and i think now that the relegation battle has been cut down again - to four teams - only one going down. In my opinion West Ham and Watford are already down and its between Charlton, Sheffield Utd, Wigan and Fulham for the last spot, and i think, although they have the most points from their games out of all those teams, that Fulham will be the team that goes down. Their remaining fixtures are about the hardest they could have at this time of the season, they don't have any 6 pointers and they have tough away games with Arsenal and Blackburn, while they polay host to Liverpool and Middlesborough. I can see them maybe picking up one or three points form the Boro game, and none anywhere else. Its going to be tight but i think the other teams will pick up points elsewhere, Charlton are in form and i think will beat Sheffield United on saturday, and Wigan are looking good, form wise, and i can't see Sheffield going down after their excellent display against West Ham.
As far as Europe is concerned, i think Arsenal have now bagged fourth and could go on to take third although it really makes no difference. And i think Tottenham are looking good for the UEFA Cup spot created by two teams already in Europe being in the FA Cup final. They will join Bolton and Everton, who diserve their places, after two seasons of nearly there or failure as far as Everton are concerned.
To end i'd just like to mention the C-word. Cricket. As i am writing this, England are being destroyed by South Africa in the World Cup and Sajid Mahmood is officially the WORST bowler in the world, EVER!! Two overs at a cost of 28 runs!!! It really is abismal and i'd like to make a protest, kick him out please, why is he in the England squad when we have people like Matthew Hoggard who could do ten times better. The build up to this game had been quite promising, with the whole squad standing up to be counted for once in their careers, bu
t i was a fool to believe it would ever happen. We have all been let down by some very average England cricketers. Although, i did expect better from Kevin Pietersen, out for 3?? Whats going on? He has the England bug thats what. Its like in football. Put Cristiano Ronaldo and Drogba in England shirts and they'd be like two kids having a kick-about at the park. I don't know what it is about England but everyone who plays for them, no matter how good they are, they never seem to be able to gel or get the consistancy they do for club or county. Its the same in all sports. The rugby was an exeption for a year or two, they must have thought they were Australian or something, then they all realised that they aren't meant to play well for England and turned into the shite we all know and see from England teams week in, week out.
*Picture: Mahmood trying to do the YMCA, i'm sure he'd be better at it that Cricket.
The Premiership was exiting as usual this weekend, and i think now that the relegation battle has been cut down again - to four teams - only one going down. In my opinion West Ham and Watford are already down and its between Charlton, Sheffield Utd, Wigan and Fulham for the last spot, and i think, although they have the most points from their games out of all those teams, that Fulham will be the team that goes down. Their remaining fixtures are about the hardest they could have at this time of the season, they don't have any 6 pointers and they have tough away games with Arsenal and Blackburn, while they polay host to Liverpool and Middlesborough. I can see them maybe picking up one or three points form the Boro game, and none anywhere else. Its going to be tight but i think the other teams will pick up points elsewhere, Charlton are in form and i think will beat Sheffield United on saturday, and Wigan are looking good, form wise, and i can't see Sheffield going down after their excellent display against West Ham.
As far as Europe is concerned, i think Arsenal have now bagged fourth and could go on to take third although it really makes no difference. And i think Tottenham are looking good for the UEFA Cup spot created by two teams already in Europe being in the FA Cup final. They will join Bolton and Everton, who diserve their places, after two seasons of nearly there or failure as far as Everton are concerned.
To end i'd just like to mention the C-word. Cricket. As i am writing this, England are being destroyed by South Africa in the World Cup and Sajid Mahmood is officially the WORST bowler in the world, EVER!! Two overs at a cost of 28 runs!!! It really is abismal and i'd like to make a protest, kick him out please, why is he in the England squad when we have people like Matthew Hoggard who could do ten times better. The build up to this game had been quite promising, with the whole squad standing up to be counted for once in their careers, bu
t i was a fool to believe it would ever happen. We have all been let down by some very average England cricketers. Although, i did expect better from Kevin Pietersen, out for 3?? Whats going on? He has the England bug thats what. Its like in football. Put Cristiano Ronaldo and Drogba in England shirts and they'd be like two kids having a kick-about at the park. I don't know what it is about England but everyone who plays for them, no matter how good they are, they never seem to be able to gel or get the consistancy they do for club or county. Its the same in all sports. The rugby was an exeption for a year or two, they must have thought they were Australian or something, then they all realised that they aren't meant to play well for England and turned into the shite we all know and see from England teams week in, week out.*Picture: Mahmood trying to do the YMCA, i'm sure he'd be better at it that Cricket.
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